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S. Muralidhar

The Hyundai Motor India Ltd. President, Mr P. V. R. Subbu, and the Managing Director, Mr J. I. Kim at the launch of the Accent Viva.

VARIANTS are the flavour of the day. They catch the customer's fleeting fancy until a newer version or a competitor's `copy-cat' beguiles him. Pampered car buyers of today have never had it so good, with manufacturers wooing them with an array of variants.

However, Hyundai Motor India's (HMIL) latest two new variants, are more than mere additions to a list of existing variants. They are unique in their respective segments. Unique, because they offer the customer more choice and access to new technology, previously unavailable in these segments.

The first off, late last month, was the Accent Viva, a semi-notchback version of HMIL's hugely popular mid-size sedan — the Accent. The Skoda Octavia is the only other semi-notchback in the market today. However, in terms of positioning and price segments, the Octavia is in the D-segment (super-luxury).

The semi-notchback, usually has a sleeker, sportier profile. With a smaller boot, than the normal three-box version, the semi-notchback is targeted at younger customers. Companies also prefer semi-notchbacks for the advantages offered by their compactness and ease-of-use.

Viva is being positioned under the Accent umbrella brand. In keeping with its profile, HMIL is targeting customers in the 25-50 age group. The Viva features the same 16 Valve, Double Overhead Camshaft engine that was offered on the Accent Tornado. Hyundai is also offering Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), 14-inch alloy wheels and rear defogger as standard fitment on the Viva.

HMIL has positioned the Viva just a notch below the Accent Tornado in terms of price. So, the attraction to the customer is obviously not the lower price. Hyundai is hoping that the Viva will have an identity and character of its own. Going by the initial response to the Viva, the company seems to have succeeded in this strategy. As of mid-September, HMIL had 720 back orders for the Viva.

The other new variant to hit the roads this month was the Santro Automatic. The Santro Automatic will be available with the 1.1 litre engine and features a four-speed automatic transmission. The automatic will be targeted at a niche segment of urban car buyers, who are aware of the comfort levels offered by automatic transmission.

Hyundai was not keen on offering automatics a couple of year back. The rationale being that most mid-size cars in India are chauffeur-driven. On the other hand, automatics in such small cars as the Santro, would have made the car unaffordable for the larger number of potential car buyers. In fact, that was the problem faced by the automatic variants of the Zen, Wagon-R and Alto, which were launched by Maruti Udyog following the launch of the respective manual transmissions.

However, Hyundai has managed this problem by keeping the price differential to a low Rs 35,000-40,000 between the automatic and the manual transmission variants of the Santro.

HMIL also had another problem in that an automatic on an engine, which is just about one litre would have meant that the company would have to compromise on the car's fuel efficiency. So, Hyundai officials add that while the automatic could have been launched a little earlier, the company decided to wait until the 1.1 litre Zip Plus engine was launched, on the Santro, to ensure that the performance of the automatic matches the existing manual variants.

By launching the Santro Automatic and offering ABS in all the Santro variants (including the manuals), HMIL is trying to demonstrate the technological capabilities that can be offered even to the small car buyer. The company is not expecting big volumes to come from the automatic. To this end, the Santro Automatic's advertising will be focussed on customers in the major metros, who are already aware of the benefits offered by the automatic.

With the absence of the gear-shift and the clutch, automatics offer stress-free driving that HMIL hopes will appeal to discerning customers who are have to constantly change gears in the stop-and-go traffic characteristic of India's congested roads. The increase in the number of people employed in the information technology sector has meant that more people are travelling to countries such as the US, where automatics are far more popular, leading to an increase in awareness levels about automatics.

Hyundai has also started work on a possible launch of an automatic transmission variant. If studies being conducted currently throw up a favourable response, the Accent automatic may be introduced by mid-2003.

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