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Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Nov. 18 In spite of a 28 per cent growth in the domestic car market for Hyundai Motor India, the company may consider production cuts if the current slowdown continues.

The company is also evaluating price hike to absorb high input costs.

The Director of Sales group, Hyundai Motor India, Mr Y.K. Koo, said the market is becoming increasingly tough faced with credit crunch, news about job losses and tendency to postpone purchase of cars.

Speaking to newspersons here after inaugurating Hyundai Kun showroom near the IT hub in Hyderabad, Mr Koo said, “last few months have been extremely challenging for auto companies, a situation not faced by them in the last few years. Given the current situation, the sector needs to rework strategies to shore up sales. In fact, the next month is also likely to be relatively quieter. That means, since July, the market is getting tougher by the day,” he said.

“The credit is hard to come by for buyers. Therefore, we are in parleys with banks to make loans more flexible and accessible to facilitate business growth,” he said.

Asked if the exports too have been impacted due to slowdown in the US and Europe, Mr Koo said his mandate was confined to sales in India and he would not like to comment on export volumes and its impact.

“The industry had projected a growth of about 12 per cent during the year. Midway through, due to slowdown, we were expecting an overall growth of about 6 per cent. However, it is likely that the industry may slash it down to 4 per cent now given the current market situation,” he said.

“Most of the vehicles in the Hyundai stable including hatch-backs Santro, i10 and Accent and Verna sedans have received encouraging response from the market. Even the recently launched LPG variant of Santro has made inroads. We expect to sell about 2,000 LPG cars a month,” he said.

Referring to new launches, Mr Koo said the company plans to roll out its larger hatch i20 early next year.

Asked about recent news of possible launch of 800 cc Santro, Mr Koo said the company was developing a smaller car with 800 cc engine and expects to launch it by 2010.

Andhra Pradesh is a key market for Hyundai wherein it accounts for about 25 per cent market share. The company plans to increase its dealer network from the current 242 to 300 by March 2009, he said.

More Stories on : Outlook | Cars

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