The Hindu Business Line : Hyundai mulls launch of i30 in India

Bangalore, Nov. 5 Hyundai Motor plans to launch a new car that will be positioned between Verna and Sonata and is also considering launching its i30 model in India.

The Senior Executive Vice-President, Mr Jae Won Lee, Hyundai Motor Company, told Business Line that the new car will be launched in 2009. The i30 car, which was launched at the Tokyo Motor Show for the Japanese market, is also being considered for an India launch.

Since the segment gap between Verna and Sonata is huge, Hyundai is learnt to be working on a new model which could stride a couple of segments, Mr Lee said.

The Hyundai Motor India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Heung Soo Lheem, also confirmed that the i30 was being considered for a launch in the country.

The i30 is a C-segment hatchback and along with i10 will spawn a series of new naming scheme with models bearing the ‘I’ prefix. Hyundai plans to launch an entire series of models starting with i10, i20, i30, i40 and i50.

Transport problem

Mr Lheem also said that even though Hyundai had signed a 12-year agreement with the Chennai Port authorities, the transportation of goods from the manufacturing plant to the port was proving to be difficult as they were permitted to transport goods only between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. daily.

“The congestion is huge even though the distance is just 30 km,” he said.

He said the government was yet to fulfil its promise of building a rail line to the port to get over the problem of traffic congestion.

The Centre should offer fiscal incentives for exports even though Hyundai is able to manage the rupee appreciation against the dollar at present.

Because of high local content in most of its cars, the “situation was manageable as of now”. Mr Lheem said the withdrawal of the target plus scheme which encouraged more exports was unnecessary.

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