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Monday, 15 September 2008
Next in Line is i40
With so many new cars coming to the Indian car market, Hyundai is also busy is producing a new premium sedan for the country. Speculations in the air murmur that the proposed new car will christened as i40. The first launch of ‘I’ series by Hyundai was i10, a car that is successfully running on Indian roads. Thereafter, the company introduced the most fuel-efficient kappa engine in the car to make the car more reliable with better fuel economy. Driven by the positive response of Hyundai i10, the company decided to launch another i-series car christened as i20. The new car is expected to launch by the end of this year, expected to create a benchmark in the Indian car market. Now, when the company is almost near the launch of i-20, Hyundai is in plans to roll out another i-series, codenamed i-40. But, this new car will not follow the hatchback trend; it will be an exciting premium sedan. The exterior appeal of i-40 is expected to be a blend of Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4. This is also said to be revamped version of the existing Hyundai Sonata. The car is to be launched in Korea in 2009 and is speculated to roll out in India in the next couple of months. Labels: Audi, Hyundai, Indian-car-market, Mercedes-Benz, New-Cars
Friday, 8 August 2008
Hybrid Cars - Who is next…Hyundai?
Honda has already started the ‘green revolution’ in the Indian auto industry by rolling out the Civic hybrid and Toyota will soon follow the lead by introducing the hybrid version of the Prius to India. And now it is the turn of another major car manufacturer, the Hyundai, to join the revolution. The Hyundai is working on to develop its own hybrid technology and once completed the technology will mated with the small car in India. As per their strategy, they expect to roll out a gasoline-electric hybrid version of its sedans by 2010, which will be later implement in larger hybrid vehicles. But before all this, the company will launch the world’s first hybrid vehicle (Avante) to be powered by LPG and will be the first to adopt advanced lithium polymer batteries. Hope they also plan to roll out similar vehicles (Avante LPG hybrid) in India. Labels: Hybrid-Cars, Hyundai, Small-Cars
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
India Turns into a Small Car Hub
India will be soon turned into a global hub for small cars! Hyundai Motors has recently announced to make India its global hub for small car. The company has a very transparent picture about the Indian market. The Hyundai i10 is successful in gathering the customers’ attention and now i20 is on the way to roll out. The car will be solely manufactured in India. Hyundai i20 is a hatchback sedan from the “B” segment and will compete with Skoda’s Fabia and Ford Fusion. This auto player from South Korea had entered the Indian market ten years back and has rolled out successful models to country. The brand also carries an attractive campaign with the heartthrob bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan and the bubbly tennis ace Sania Mirza as its brand ambassadors. Labels: Hyundai, Indian-car-industry, Small-Cars
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Hyundai Opt India for Small Car Production
Many car manufacturers are invading India to make the country a hub for small cars production. The Hyundai Motors being a smart player also plans to make India its global centre for small cars. The company will use India for manufacturing and exporting small cars and earn higher margins. Cars produced in India are comparatively low in price because of the easy availability of skilled talents as well as low-cost of labour and machinery. Hyundai has rolled many small cars till date among which few were locally produced. The recognised Hyundai’s i10, launched last November, was manufactured exclusively in India. The upcoming Hyundai’s i20 model will also be solely manufactured in India. Hyundai’s i10 belongs to the ‘A’ segment whereas the upcoming i20 will belong to the ‘B’ segment. The company wishes to line up a portfolio of small cars to offer a wider choice to Indian customers. Hyundai has set a sales target of around 530,000 units for both the domestic and export market. But inflation and high fuel prices are taking a toll on car sales, thereby reducing the margin. May be by the end of this year, things get sort out and Hyundai gets a brighter era to continue the launch of its innovative models. Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Hyundai, Small-Cars
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Hyundai Accent CNG is Out
With the hike in prices of petrol and diesel, leading car manufacturers are in the process of introducing more fuel economic variants (such as LPG and CNG) of their existing car models. Hyundai Motors has introduced a CNG variant of its popular midsize sedan ‘Accent’. The 1.5-litre petrol engine of the Hyundai Accent is now available with a CNG kit in the new CNG variant. The driver can easily switch between petrol and CNG modes using the manual selector switch in the car. The CNG kit comes with a Lambda control system that ensures Euro III emissions on the car. The new variant is very promising and could give the Accent a boost in sales. Hyundai has also been planning to launch LPG variants of almost all its car models with the Hyundai Santro Xing LPG being the most awaited of them all. Labels: CNG cars, Hyundai, new car launch
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Month of May Brought Woes to Indian Car Industry
While car companies rejoiced in the months of March and April when car sales were high, the succeeding month of May left them in tears. After April, car sales started dipping. While the car industry posted a growth of 22 percent in the month of April, the record for May was a mere 13-15 percent.
Maruti continues to lead as always followed immediately by enthusiastic Hyundai. But General Motors which has being doing well over the last couple of years has witnessed a sudden slowdown.
With input costs for car manufacturers being ever on the rise and as the world crude oil will continue to price $120 plus per barrel, the Indian car industry needs to come up with a new strategy to arrest falling car sales.
Labels: Car sales, General Motors, Hyundai, Maruti
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Santro to get new soul
Hyundai wants to modify its highest selling hatchback Santro Xing and launch it again. The Santro will be fitted with a lighter 1.1 liter diesel engine that produces a whopping 75 bhp. The car will give an impressive mileage of 20 kmpl which is good fuel efficiency rate. Most Indian buyers will be impressed with it. Now who can beat that! Hyundai itself! With the new small displacement engine it is surely going to become a major competitor for a lot small cars. It may be launched in May or June 2008. Santro has already become a huge hit in urban areas. With its new avatar it could become a nightmare to its rivals.
Labels: car engine, Hatchbacks, Hyundai, small cars
Hyundai enters luxury bus market in India
Hyundai Motors has contributed a lot in auto industry by offering stylish, powerful and stable cars to millions of people in India at reasonable prices. After achieving a tremendous success in car business, Hyundai is now moving to rapidly growing luxury bus market in India. The Hyundai will manufacture buses in collaboration with London based Caparo group.
When we talk about Hyundai, the pictures of Hyundai’s popular small cars including cute i10, Getz Prime, Santro Xing will emerge in our minds. Hyundai has been in car business for the past many decades, so it easily understands what customers are expecting from it.
As it always worked as per the whims and fancies of its customers to keep them happy by releasing many good cars and enjoyed a great patronage of its customer for maintaining quality in its products, will also capture commercial vehicle market by manufacturing well-equipped buses in future. Labels: Car manufacturing, Hyundai, luxury buses, small cars
Friday, 11 April 2008
i10 Bags Another Award
One of the cutest and most recently launched models from Hyundai Motors, the i10 has been much appreciated by the Indian public. It has now bagged the ‘Indian Car of the Year – 2008’ (ICOTY) award. The car was judged on the basis of quality, drive and overall performance. Other factors like fuel efficiency, ride, handling, safety, comfort, driver satisfaction and price were also considered before cars were ranked on a 25-point scale where a maximum of 10 points was given to a car.
The i10 was unveiled last year and falls into the small car segment. It comes with a price tag ranging between 3.5-4 Lakh. It has already won many hearts with its performance and style. It’s the first compact car to come with a sunroof option. Labels: car awards, Hyundai, small cars
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Free car care clinics by Hyundai
Now-a-days, car manufacturers are not only giving thrust to push up sale of their small cars or luxury cars, but also taking much care of their customers even after sale. Realising the fact that maintaining a good rapport with customers is as important as striking a deal with them to push their sales, some car companies have started after sale servicing to keep their customers happy and to help them to get solved any problems in their new cars after buying from them without shelling out an additional amount from their wallets. Maruti, Tata Motors and other companies started free car servicing after sale, now Hyundai has taken up this task and wanted to build a good rapport with its customers by launching after sale servicing campaign. It has launched a unique campaign of free car care clinic. The nationwide two-week long campaign will be held from April 2 to April 14. The company plans to reach 1.5 lakh consumers. Such customer-service oriented campaigns would definitely be praised by the customers. Labels: Auto market competition, car services, Hyundai, luxury cars, Maruti, small cars, Tata Motor
Friday, 28 March 2008
Lack of incentive will affect exporting of passenger cars
India’s dream of becoming a global small car hub may not become reality. Car manufacturers, who are till recently beaming over the reduction of excise duty on small cars, are now considering limiting their exports to maintain profitability as the government has not given incentive to encourage the exporting of passenger cars. Lack of incentive from the government is expected to affect the growth of export business of many car manufacturers. Sale of small cars, sedan and luxury cars is increasing in domestic market but lack of incentive for export and continues depreciation of the dollar, is bound to affect the sale of many cars in overseas market. Discouraged by the government’s disinterest in encouraging export business, largest exporter of passenger cars from India like Hyundai motor, Maruti Suzuki are seriously considering to downscale their original target of exporting 50 productions from India. Government should join hands with car companies to make India a global hub for small cars by giving some impetus to small cars export business. Labels: car incentive, Exporting cars, Hyundai, incentive for exporting, luxury cars, Maruti Suzuki, small cars
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Car sales gear up in small cities
It seems that B and C cities are emerging as profitable markets for car companies in the last year. The rising income and easy accessibility to loans have been largely responsible for driving car sales upwards in these cities. As metros have been are soon going to become a stagnant market, it makes sense that car manufacturers look for cities other than metros. Most of these car buyers in these cities are first time car owners and obviously go for entry level cars. It is believed that Hyundai accounts 40 per cent of its sales including small cars and luxury cars are in cities other than the metros and six big cities in India. And the most popular models have been Santro and i10. Labels: Car competition, Car sales, Expansion in business, Hyundai, luxury cars, New i10 model, small cars
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Hyundai & Women’s day
Hyundai’s women’s day with Santro scheme has worked magic. The company followed a soft approach towards the rising number of working women drivers and managed to successfully attract customers. It had offered a women’s day special scheme on the Santro Xing model starting March 1st.
A 50 % waiver on loan processing fee and loans at 0.75 % lower rate of interest than market rate were offered that brought the car loan percentage to 13.5 or 14 percent. After the success of this scheme, Hyundai has extended the scheme for the entire month of March. Labels: car loans, Car sales, Hyundai
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Hyundai associates with IPL
How could the cars be far from cricket? After all, we have seen so many cars be displayed in cricket stadiums and then be given away to winners. The Indian Premium League has been all over the news for the past few weeks and car manufacturers have been just as eager to join the band wagon as have been the filmstars involved in it. The first IPL matches are commencing in April and Hyundai has already become an associate sponsor. They have bought an air time of 200 seconds per match for advertisements and other promotional campaigns. Hyundai is the only car manufacturer showing its products during the IPL matches.
As the battle of IPL begins, so will the battle of car promotions. Maybe we will see some cricketers endorsing cars for small towns as they too hail from such places. Like Dhoni from Ranchi, Harbhajan from Mohali, Irfan Pathan from Baroda, and Zaheer Khan from a small town in Maharashtra. In the past, Sachin Tendulkar had endorsed the Fiat Palio for some time. Follow the little master! Labels: Car advertisement, Cricket, Hyundai, Sports
Friday, 14 March 2008
Cars made of plastic
If you thought that plastic was only for the interior of a car, think again. In the future, almost all of the car could be made of plastic except the really essential components like the engine. That would probably have to remain in metal casings.
Car manufacturers have been experimenting with polycarbonates and carbon fibre. Not only are these materials lightweight, they also have strength and durability. In fact, the Hyundai QarmaQ car model is believed to have been made using recycled PET bottles. The car boasts of 30 new features all made from plastic. It looks more stylish than ever before. Labels: car features, Hyundai
Ikon Flair is govt. car
The good old Ambassador car from Hindustan Motors is slowly moving out of government patronage. It was like the ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of the car industry. It was always there when younger and newer car models kept hitting the roads and it hung around for a very long time.
Over the years it came to symbolize bureaucracy. The government has now decided to replace the fuel guzzling ambassadors with the more stylish and fuel efficient Ford Ikon Flair. This comes after a recent approval for the Hyundai Accent. The golden age of the Ambassador is finally at an end. Labels: Ford, Government, Hindustan Motors, Hyundai
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Ford has reduced the price of Fusion diesel
Here's something that Ford has come up with to help car buys benefit from the excise duty cut in our latest union budget. It has reduced the price of Fusion's diesel variant by Rs. 22, 000. The very day the union budget was announced, Indian car manufacturers like Maruti and Hyundai reduced the prices of many of their small cars. Taking a cue from them, Ford too dived in and thus the Fusion diesel story. If the current trend continues, we could see even more car manufacturers reducing prices of small cars pretty soon.
Labels: Car competition, Car sales, Ford India, Hyundai, Maruti, Reducing model price
i20 coming to India by year end
The cute i10 is already making waves in the small car segment and recently walked away with a lot of awards and appreciation. Now, Hyundai is waiting to launch the new i20 hatchback and is expecting a repeat of the i10's success story. i20 is next in the i-series from Hyundai of which the i10 has already arrived. With the i10 being so impressive, many wonder what the i20 will be like and expectations are really high for this upcoming car. Hyundai is undeniably setting new standards and raising the expectations of car buyers. The i20 is coming to India some time later this year. Labels: Hatchbacks, Hyundai, Hyundai Santro, i20, New Car, New i10 model, small cars
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Logan is on top
It’s a story of Tortoise beat the Hare in a “car race”. Last month, the Mahindra-Renault Logan suddenly sold out in large numbers to overtake Honda City, Hyundai Verna and Maruti Suzuki SX4. The Logan has always been appreciated for being a good mileage car. But for a long time, its price wasn’t helping sales. Promotional campaigns weren’t going its way either. The ‘most spacious sedan on Indian roads’ was unable to make much space for itself in our highly competitive car market. It was slowly drifting into oblivion.
A new price strategy from Mahindra-Renault has come to the Logan’s rescue. The family sedan now comes cheaper at Rs 4.5 lakh for petrol and Rs 5.75 lakh for diesel variant. Now, the car is most probably filling Mahindra Motors’ balance sheets alongside the Scorpio. We thought the new union budget might encourage Mahindra-Renault to come out with a smaller version of the Logan but that’s not what they have in mind. It will remain just the same. We hear there’s a new brand campaign in the works though. Labels: Car discounts, Car sales, Honda, Hyundai, Mahindra-Renault, Maruti Suzuki
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