Hyundai India to Introduce Diesel Variant i10 by the End of 2008 or Early 2009

India has one of the emerging car markets in the world. With India’s economy growing significantly over the past few years, its domestic car market has also received its blessing. Now, Indian auto market has become one of the lucrative places to invest and the global auto makers are coming into Indian car market. South Korean automaker Hyundai is no different. In fact, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Compan, has taken the Indian market very seriously and going to launch a number of cars this year.

Hyundai Motor India has recently announced that the company has reset the launching deadline for diesel variant new small car, i10, which is now scheduled to hit the Indian market by the end of 2008 or early 2009. The company is also contemplating to introduce LPG variant of Santro and Accent during the third quarter of this year, Hyundai is expected to launch its premium sports utility car, Santa Fe, by the end of this year.

To manufacture the engine and transmission system of i10 car, Hyundai is now setting up a plant near Chennai.

business-standard reported:

According to Heung Soo Lheem, Managing Director and CEO, HMIL, the diesel variant of i10 will be fitted with the new engine and transmission system to be manufactured at a plant which is being set up near Chennai.

Lheem said Hyundai will develop new engines for both petrol and diesel cars to be sold in India. The i10 will sport a brand new 80 bhp all aluminium engine that will meet the stringent Euro-V emissions norms. This year Hyundai is targetting a total sales of 580,000 cars, of which 420,000 will be small cars. While, the share of Santro is pegged at 140,000 units, the balance will be i10 and i20 models.

Hyundai is getting huge response for its upcoming model i10. The South Korean company has already received 75,000 orders for Diesel variant of i10 car from 95 countries of the world. Even in India, Hyundai i10 is doing very well as it has sold 55,000 units of this small car since its launch in November 2007. Hyundai India is now contributing 15% of its global capacity. Having seen increasing success in Indian market, Hyundai has recently increased the manufacturing capacity in India to 600,000 annually, which is expected to reach the mark of 1 million by 2015.

As India is an emerging auto market, the global players have their eyes on India’s ever increasing car market. So, it may not be that much easy for Hyundai to go on with success at similar rate in the market because there are some strong global as well as domestic car makers actively involved in the market.