Hyundai Motor developing affordable electric vehicle, to launch within 3 years
Korean auto-maker Hyundai Motor India is in the process of developing an electric vehicle in the next two-three years to serve the mass market, a top official of the company has said.
On Thursday, the auto major rolled out its three millionth 'Made in India' car being shipped to overseas market from its manufacturing unit at Sriperumbudur near here.
After formally signing on the bonnet of the three millionth car which was unveiled at the facility, Hyundai Motor India's managing director S S Kim said the company was developing a mass market electric vehicle for India. "That will be introduced in two - three years. In terms of price it will be affordable", he told reporters without being specific on the price.
Hyundai Motor India had, in 2019, introduced the electric vehicle 'Kona' priced at around ₹25 lakh. The company has claimed the vehicle delivers a range of 452 km in a single charge under standard testing conditions. Globally, the company has sold over 15,000 units in markets like Canada, USA, Europe, Russia, Korea and Australia.
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On the three millionth car, Kim said the company's latest sedan Hyundai Aura has been rechristened with a left hand drive as 'Grand i10' for the Colombian market. He said the company also began shipping the Aura range of cars to overseas market starting with Colombia. Around 130 units of Aura would be shipped in the first lot, a company official said.
According to Kim, the rollout of the three millionth car was the fastest since inception of the unit in 1998. "The fastest 'Made in India' three millionth export car rollout is a significant milestone as it showcases the global success story for Hyundai," he said.
"We started our export operations in 1999 and crossed many a milestone. We thank our global customers and overseas distributors for their trust," he said.
HMIL began exporting cars in 1999 with the first batch comprising 20 units of popular hatchback 'Santro' shipped to Nepal. In October 2004, the company reached the first milestone of exporting the 1,00,000th car. In March 2008, the company exported its 5,00,000th car followed by 10,00,000th car and 20,00,000th car in February 2010 and March 2014 respectively.
Currently, a Hyundai car is produced every 33 seconds at the facility, an official said. In 2019, Hyundai Motor shipped 1.81 lakh units with 792 customised variants according to country-specific preference and demand, Kim, who is also the company's CEO, said at an event in the manufacturing facility. With a marketshare of 26 per cent in 2019 to the total exports of passenger cars from India, Hyundai has been a significant contributor to the Indian automobile industry, he said.
Kim said the company, during the last two decades, had invested ₹24,000 crore in its manufacturing unit. The company has already announced ₹7,000 crore additional investments, which include new product launches and powertrain enhancement, he added.
Chennai Port Trust chairman P Raveendran, who was present on the occasion, congratulated Hyundai Motor India for reaching the export milestone. He said the Port Trust started focusing on three Cs - containers, cars and cruise.
Hyundai Motor India ships 13 models of cars across segments, including the electric vehicle 'Kona', to 88 countries in the continents of Africa, Middle-East, Latin America, Australia and the Asia-Pacific. HMIL has 515 dealers and 1,329 service points across India.
