The Hindu Business Line : Re appreciation may hit Hyundai profits

Ahmedabad, Nov. 7 Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) sees reduced profits in exports this year due to rupee appreciation and is focusing on Europe to achieve its targets, a senior company official said .

“Our profits may be impacted due to the rupee appreciation but we hope to achieve our target of exporting an additional one lakh vehicles this year,” Mr Wang Sik (Wes) Min, Executive Director (Marketing Sales), told Business Line.

Next year, the company hopes to export 60 to 70 per cent of its compact cars manufactured at its Indian plant to Europe.

The export targets include Santro (40,000 cars), Getz (70,000) and the just-launched i10 models (1.1 lakh).

In all, HMIL is planning to export about 2.70 lakh cars, he said. Export of i10 cars, fully conceived and manufactured in India, is likely to begin in January next.

It registered total sales of 2.99 lakh vehicles in India and exported 1.13 lakh cars in 2006. The company is also launching the CNG version of Santro this month.

Hyundai’s latest offerings, the four variants of i10, are expected to sell 1.20 lakh in numbers in the country this year.

With an ex-showroom price between Rs 3.79 lakh and Rs 4.90 lakh in Ahmedabad, i10 is the first car in India to have a sun-roof. It is also the first car launched by the company from India for the global market.

Currently, Hyundai is the largest exporter of cars from India. HMIL is largest base of Hyundai outside South Korea. It is set to invest $40 million at its fully-integrated automotive research and development facility at Hyderabad.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea, has already doubled production capacity at its Chennai plant to nearly six lakh cars per annum by the end of 2008.

Hyundai has an 18 per cent market share in India which is expected to grow to 20 per cent next year. At present, it markets 22 variants of passenger cars in six segments.

Hyndai, which launched i10 in Delhi on October 31, unveiled the new models in Gujarat today.

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