Yet another milestone has been crossed by India’s second largest car maker. Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) which is also the country’s largest exporter has just begun operations at its 300th dealership in Karur, Tamil Nadu. Congratulations Hyundai!
So, we have a clear indication that Hyundai is trying its best to strengthen its foothold in the country. The expansion also strengthens HMIL’s commitment to its customers in India by bringing closer its top-notch products. 12 years ago, back in 1998, the company had 59 state-of-the-art world class dealerships, and by end of this year, the company wanted to increase the dealership count to 320. 300 dealerships in its fold already; that’s quite an achievement!
That’s not all though! If you thought Hyundai just has 300 dealerships and a couple of manufacturing plants in India, hold on! The car maker has an additional network of 112 sales outlets together with 130 Hyundai Advantage dealers. Hyundai Advantage happens to be the company’s used car business. So, all in all, with its 542 touch points in 290 cities across the country, we could say that Hyundai Motor India Limited has unparalleled access to its customers. However, the auto major doesn’t want to stop there. The company has plans of increasing its existing sales network strength to 610 by end of this year.
Speaking on the expansion drive, H. W. Park, MD and CEO, HMIL, said, “With a growing customer base and increase in our product portfolio we need to access more and more customers and to achieve this we set up an aggressive program to increase our sales and service network. We will continue with this expansion plan to reach out to new markets catering to the ever increasing demand for our products.”
Hyundai has always kept excellent customer service as priority. In 2001, its service workshop network in India was limited to 235. Today, it has displayed remarkable growth with the number increasing to 608. Currently, Hyundai has set for itself a target of 625 by this year end. If achieved, that would further help the company deliver easy and hassle-free after-sales service for its customers.
Hyundai’s dealership network has played quite a crucial role in sketching the company’s success story in the country. The network has helped Hyundai cross a lot many milestones including becoming the country’s second largest car manufacturer. It was hailed as India’s second largest car maker within just 6 months of starting production in 1998. It rolled out 150,000 cars in just about 25 months. That’s proof that HMIL has at all times exceeded expectations.
Hyundai was able to roll out 10 lakh cars by 2006 and the 30-lakh production mark has easily been crossed this year, in the record time of less than 12 years. This achievement, in fact, makes HMIL one of just two car makers in India to achieve this feat. The newly launched Hyundai Next Gen i10 and Santa Fe will hopefully boost overall sales further.
