The Hindu Business Line : Hyundai Motor on course to be eligible for TN Govt sops

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Hyundai Motor on course to be eligible for TN Govt sops

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Total investments set to top Rs 4,000 cr

Getz plans
The company flags off an export consignment of the re-styled Getz, a hatchback, to Europe.
The car is badged as the Getz Prime for the export market.
The company would export 4,000 units of the Getz Prime in the first consignment to Germany.
It also plans to launch in the domestic market the re-styled Getz in both the petrol and diesel versions.

Chennai March 26 Hyundai Motor India says it is on course to be eligible for incentives offered by the Tamil Nadu Government under a recently announced policy for large automobile projects.

Its Managing Director, Mr H.S. Lheem, said the investments made by the company so far and those in the pipeline would take the total investment in its facility at Irungattukottai, about 40 km west of Chennai, beyond the Rs 4,000-crore limit set by the State for concessions under the policy.

Company officials later said that Hyundai Motor India would have invested about Rs 3,500 crore so far since it started work on the plant in 1996.

Mr Lheem said the company would exceed Rs 4,000 crore in investments by 2010. This would include fresh investments being planned, for which feasibility studies were being conducted, on new models. (Hyundai Motor India's investments have so far come under a "super mega projects" policy announced by the State in 1996, for investments exceeding Rs 1,500 crore.)

He was talking to journalists after a function at the Chennai Port to flag off an export consignment of the re-styled Getz, a hatchback, to Europe. The car is badged as the Getz Prime for the export market.

The Tamil Nadu Government unveiled a policy in February to attract investments in integrated automobile projects after it signed a three-way agreement with Mahindra and Mahindra, Renault and Nissan for a manufacturing plant at Oragadam, near here.

The Ultra Mega Integrated Automobile Projects Policy covers both new projects and expansion of existing ones with an investment of not less than Rs 4,000 crore to be made in seven years from the date it signed an agreement with the companies. The concessions include land at reduced rates, full exemption from stamp duty, dual feeder lines for power supply, exemption from electricity tax for 10 years and refund of gross output value added tax and Central sales tax for 21 years or up to 115 per cent of eligible investment.

Mr Lheem said Hyundai Motor India would export 4,000 units of the Getz Prime in the first consignment to Germany, which was one of the most demanding markets. The cars would have three engine variants - 1.1-litre and 1.3-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel. This year, the company would export a total of 1,35,000 cars, including 40,000 units of the Getz, against 1,13,000 in 2006.

He said the company would launch in the domestic market the re-styled Getz in both the petrol and diesel versions. It would also launch a small car towards the end of this calendar year or early next year, from the second plant, work on which would shortly finish.

The company, he said, was working to introduce a compressed natural gas model of the Santro in places where gas was available as an automobile fuel.

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