Indian Car Blog – Carazoo.com

Hyundai i-Gen i20: The Hatchback For The Intelligent Generation

Hyundai i-Gen i20 has many smart features, making it easy to accept that the ‘I’ in the ‘i-Gen’, stands for intelligence. While the 11th option is the smartest, four of these features are automatic and assist you as soon as the need arises. Other functions are electrically operated; and come to help with minimum effort on your part.

An automatic headlight control senses when it is dark or visibility becomes low and switches Hyundai i-Gen i20’s headlamps on automatically. Then there are rain-sensing windscreen wipers, even if there is a bit of a drizzle, the wipers start purring. To truly appreciate these two features, just imagine driving with no interruptions even while driving through ‘stop and start’ Indian monsoon and on the ghat roads.
Hyundai i-Gen i20 carries a clean air cluster ionizer that continuously monitors cabin-air quality and keeps increasing the freshness of the inside climate. You will value the refreshing air-quality when stuck in the sultry city atmosphere as well as on the long drives.

Smart pedal braking system is of course what all of us will thank Hyundai i-Gen i20 for. Either while driving along the highways or the city clutter, if you step on the brake suddenly to avoid any awkward situation, the smart brake system kicks in, overrides the accelerator, gives you better control, and minimizes the damage to the engine. As a safety booster, i-Gen Hyundai’s smart pedal goes a long way in providing the extra peace of mind.

In addition to all this automatic ‘help,’ Hyundai i-Gen i20 has a number of other thoughtful gestures. Parking right is a menacing job now days, what with the narrow slots, but the i-Gen i20 comes with a rear-view camera, and helps you maneuver safely within confined parking space.

Outside Mirrors are electrically adjustable and combine heated function. You won’t suffer the irritation of the rear-view mirrors getting blurred, while driving through moist, foggy weather. Hyundai has made the mirrors electrically adjustable.
Now you get a driver’s armrest that helps you to relax, while impatiently waiting for the red light to turn green. The instrument panel set in ‘super-vision cluster’ makes it easy to watch the panel, without taking eyes off the road for too long. And, to make sure that the Hyundai i-Gen i20 is not only intelligent but also looks smart, the Korean automaker has added 8-Spoke alloy wheels.

Now what is the 11th facet that makes Hyundai i-Gen i20 the smartest buy? All features like automatic climate control to smart pedal systems have so far been reserved for costly cars. But the i-Gen 20’s price band starts as low as Rs 4.73 Lakh for the basic petrol model and ends up within Rs 7.64 Lakh, even for the fully loaded, high-end automatic transmission diesel model. In between, there is a wide choice of as many as 12 variants; so go ahead, select the features you want and pick the Hyundai i-Gen i20 that suits the budget.

posted by somdatta.basu @ Monday, June 11th, 2012 Comments Off links to this post

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November 19, 2010

Hyundai Leaning towards Gujarat for its Third Plant

Hyundai Motors these days is busy hunting location for its upcoming plant in India. The company already has two plants in Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu. But when it comes to the third plant, the South Korean company seems to favouring Gujarat as its preferred choice. Word has it that three top Hyundai officials have made a presentation on Thursday to top Gujarat Government officials who had come to Bangalore with their road show.

According to reliable industry resources, Hyundai needs close to 500 acres and an additional 200-300 acres for the vendors, for its third plant. The plant would require an investment of close to Rs 4,000 crore. And after the success of the Tata Nano plant, the Gujarat government seems very keen on getting Hyundai to set up its plant in the state and has agreed in principle to provide the infrastructure support required.

Hyundai Motors is currently fighting a battle with labour issues at its two plants near Chennai. The company is said to have been conducting a feasibility study to decide on a location for its next plant. The company does not have any personal issues against setting up its plant in Tamil Nadu itself, or even in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, but having a plant in Gujarat would give the company leverage in accessing the markets in north and western India, sources in the industry said.

Additionally, the proximity to ports would enhance the export activities of the company. Another important factor which would prompt Hyundai to choose Gujarat is that companies here are not mandated to recognise labour unions. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, is on the verge of enacting a law that would mandate companies to have a registered and recognised labour union as Maharashtra and West Bengal do.

The annual capacity at the existing Hyundai plans is more than three lakh units, and the company has invested about Rs 9,000 crore in these units while the vendors have invested about Rs 4,000 crore. At these two plants, Hyundai’s employee strength is about 10,000, while the vendors have created more than 80,000 jobs.

The South Korean car manufacturer has about 20 per cent market share in the country and makes about $2 billion annually from exports alone. Hyundai is also the largest car exporter in India. HMIL currently exports the Santro, i10, i20 and the Accent to more than 115 countries in EU, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

The company is likely to decide on the plant location as well as capacity and investments within the next two quarters, as the new plant will take two years to go on stream. Hyundai Motors is also expected to announce its decision on its new diesel engine plant in the next two months during which the feasibility study would be completed.

posted by carazooblog @ Friday, November 19th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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November 9, 2010

Piaggio NT3 to take on Tata Nano in the near future

piaggio-nt3-photo
The small car market in India gets better and better like old wine. But here we give special emphasis on the micro car market which in India is currently spearheaded by the Tata Nano. The league of micro cars gets another entry with Italian scooter maker, Piaggio, planning to jump in the bandwagon.

Now this part of the news comes as a pleasant surprise as Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio, just like India’s Bajaj Auto also wants to venture into the car making business. Piaggio unveiled its four-wheel, small car concept codenamed NT3, at the Milan Bike Show that has been “designed to meet mobility needs in its major markets like India, Vietnam and South East Asia”.

Piaggio has a Indian connection through its fully owned subsidiary, Piaggio India Ltd, which is also a market leader of three-wheel commercial vehicles in India, with its flagship Ape as the market leader in terms of sales.

The Piaggio NT3 is a 3-seater car and is based on the Ape platform. Going by what we hear from some Piaggio top executives, the NT3 should be production ready by 2013. The three-seat configuration is similar to the one seen on the McLaren T.25 City car, driver in the center with passengers sitting on either side. The car was conceived in India, primarily to take on the Tata Nano.

The car which is 2.4m long might be powered by a 200 cc engine offering 60 km/h or a 300 cc engine that could provide a max speed of up to 80km/h. The car is expected to carry a price tag of Rs 1.5 lakh. The yet to be launched car is conceived to overcome traffic congestion in Asian and European cities is expected to be a low-consumption, low-polluting vehicle capable of travelling over 30km/litre of fuel.

The micro car market seems to be the next best thing as other global car makers like Hyundai Motors, Suzuki, Volkswagen, General Motors are in the fray to launch their small cars while French car maker Renaut is jointly developing a low-cost car, ULC, jointly with Indian two wheeler major Bajaj Auto.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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November 9, 2010

535 Hyundai Santa Fe’s booked in just 3 weeks

2010-hyundai-santa-fe
Hyundai Motor India Limited, the country’s largest exporter and the second largest car manufacturer, received an astonishing 535 bookings for their new car – the Santa Fe. This is quite a feat considering the Rs 20 lakh plus price tag the SUV carries.

Hyundai is already on cloud nine with this sudden success and wants to take the success rate forward. Commenting on this feat H. W. Park, MD & CEO, HMIL said, “It is a matter of great pride for us to have received such an encouraging response for our recently launched luxury SUV – the Santa Fe. The globally acclaimed luxury Santa Fe has class leading features and our Indian customers have received this SUV with unparalleled enthusiasm and affection. Looking at the initial customer response, we might even consider importing larger numbers for the next year.”

It seems Hyundai has got the equations right this time around with the Santa Fe after it failed miserably with earlier SUVs like that of Terracan and Tuscon. Now that Hyundai has come out with this winning product, they should also consider assembling the vehicle locally in India to cater to the evergrowing customer base.

hyundai-santa-fe-picture

Hyundai should feel happy to come across the problem of SUV capacity constraints that was earlier and still Toyota’s forte with its Fortuner.

It must be noted that Hyundai has opened the bookings for Santa Fe on October 18, 2010 and closed it on 30th October 2010. It is brought to India as a CBU directly from the parent company in Korea. Hyundai India had earlier set a goal of selling 500-600 Santa Fe‘s every year. But with its recent bookings exceeding the company’s expectations beyond its wildest dreams in just 22 days, Hyundai probably would have to set a new target.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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October 14, 2010

India to Drive Past Japan as Largest Small Car Hub

With the Indian car market enjoying its best time ever, expectations have started to soar high. Now India is dreaming of becoming the small car hub of the world by dethroning Japan, the biggest maker of compact cars, a majority of which is mostly sold in the domestic market. Last year, India surpassed Brazil to become the second-largest producer of such cars. While Japan manufactured 3.4 million small cars between January and December in 2009, India reached 1.48 million units in the same period.

According to a top official from Tata Motors, there is no doubt and India would definitely become the biggest manufacturer of compact, fuel-efficient cars, as there is a growing demand for such versatile cars globally. Top car manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India and Tata Motors jointly sold 720,000 units of compact cars during the first six months of the year, reporting 32 per cent growth compared to the same period in the previous year.

The Indian car industry collectively exported 191,000 compact vehicles during the first half of the current financial year. The figures are actually a little lesser than the previous year by 2.6 per cent when the industry reported exports of 197,000 vehicles. This is mainly because of lower penetration levels, along with a declining demand in the European market.

“India will become the production centre of the world for compact cars, whose share could be as high as 80 per cent. The country will become the biggest manufacturer of small cars,” Tata Motors Managing Director and Chief Executive Carl-Peter Forster said.

India-Small-Car-Segment

Forster was earlier brought on board by Chairman Ratan Tata to give a push to the company’s global ambitions and to propel the businesses of Jaguar and Land Rover. Tata Motors recently launched the luxury crossover Aria in the Indian market. Tata Motors also plans to launch to launch another small car in the coming months, which is likely to be positioned between the Nano and Indica Vista.

“There are multiple segments within the small car segment, which could be explored and one of the segments is below the Indica Vista but above the Nano,” Forster added.

The Indian auto company has been working on such a car for the past 3-4 years. Maruti Suzuki India currently holds the reins of the Indian small car market, with a share of 53 per cent.

posted by carazooblog @ Thursday, October 14th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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August 10, 2010

Monthly Car Sales Touches 2 Lakh Milestone in July

Doesn’t it give you a sense of déjà vu? Month after month, car sales in India are reaching new heights and July was another such month. Automobile sales growth in July remained at a peak to create record this year as new models like Ford Figo, Tata Nano and Volkswagen Polo drew customers in huge numbers.

Data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers shows that the domestic sales including two wheelers, cars and trucks, increased by 32% to 12.37 lakh units in July, compared to the sales of the same months a year ago. Car sales in India grew 37% to 2.02 lakh, compared with the China’s 13.6% where 9.5 lakh units of new cars were sold.

“All segments led by cars and commercial vehicles have out-performed,” said Vishnu Mathur director general at SIAM. “There could be base effect for the commercial vehicles in the coming months that could result into small growth, but the overall sentiment remains positive for the industry.”

Indian automobile industry is growing at a very fast pace, so much so that most leading car manufacturers are facing capacity constraints and delayed deliveries. Indian car buyers are being pampered with attractively priced models and car loan facilities from the banks. And all the car manufacturers, including Nissan, Volkswagen and Tata, are accelerating their production process to benefit from the forecast 8.5% economic growth. The industry body last month forecast 12-13% growth in car sales for the year.

But, reality has painted a more wonderful picture than that.

Passenger car segment may grow 14-16% in FY 2011 as sales could continue to grow in the second half of the fiscal. Manoj Mohta, head CRISIL Research, says, “Growth rate would moderate on year on year basis on account of higher base of last year, though a buoyant consumer sentiment and higher post tax income is expected to keep the market positive on fresh purchases.”

Indian-auto-industry

Despite capacity constraints, car sales in the first four months of the fiscal up to July, gained 34% to 7.56 lakh units compared to the same period a year earlier. But companies are expanding their production capacities to meet the rising demand in the Indian market.

Maruti Suzuki, who has been struggling with falling market despite record sales, is planning to enhance its production capacity and last week launched two new variants of its best selling model Alto. This month, the company plans to launch fuel efficient gas variants of its five existing models, including Alto, Estilo, WagonR, Eeco and SX4. While Hyundai Motor India experienced sales growth of 24% to 28,811, Tata Motors registered 69% at 24,613 led by small car Nano.

Would we be surprised if we saw a similar trend in the coming months too? Not exactly.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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August 5, 2010

Red Letter Day in the Hyundai Camp

Mr H-W-Park-Managing Director-CEO-Hyundai Motors India Limited-and-Mr-Arvind-Saxena-Director-Marketing-saleshmil-at-the-30-lakh-car-roll-out-held-at-the-Hyundai-factory-near-Chennai
If you have been planning to buy a Hyundai car, there couldn’t have been a better time than this. Hyundai Motors India Limited has announced a number of very attractive schemes and promotions for all of the existing models in its current portfolio. Ok, now that we have started talking about the promotions, we might as well tell you the entire truth.

Hyundai has achieved the incredible feat of having sold, including exports, 30 lakh new cars. And the company has done this in less than 12 years. Outstanding, isn’t it!

H. W. Park, Managing Director & CEO, HMIL, was ecstatic during the occasion and was heard a saying, “Today is a red-letter day for all of us at Hyundai family. We are extremely delighted to share this achievement with all our stakeholders and we believe this was possible because of our total commitment to the Indian market and the faith our customers have put in our products.

Needless to say we will continue to build “Brand Hyundai” in the market here and bring in the best of products and technology. It is also a proud moment for all of us because India has emerged as the largest export base for our small cars and the Chennai made cars can be seen on the roads of five continents now.”

The celebratory mood in the Hyundai camp has prompted the car maker to introduce a unique initiative to ensure “peace of mind” for its respected customers. The ‘Hyundai Triple Assurance Program’, a three-way nationwide scheme, will offer a range of incentives to enjoy a hassle-free driving experience.

First in the Triple Assurance Program is the ‘Maintenance Assurance Program’ which will prevent you from spending anything at all on any kind of maintenance services for three years or 50,000 kilometres, whichever is earlier.

Now you can get comprehensive car insurance and add on coverage for a maximum of five occupants for an amount up to Rs. 200,000 per person with the ‘Motor Assurance Program’.

The third dimension of the Triple Assurance Program includes the ‘Warranty Assurance Program’. Under this, you can enjoy offers extended warranty for the third year or up to distance of 60,000 km. Also included in this is free roadside assistance for two years.

The Hyundai Triple Assurance Program is limited to the buyers of the Santro and the i10. And it starts from the 5th – 25th August, 2010.

And if you have been planning to exchange your old Hyundai or any other car, the moment is apt. As a special ‘thank you’ to customers, Hyundai is offering an Exchange/Loyalty offer of Rs 15,000 for a Hyundai car owner and an exchange amount of Rs 12,000 for any other car for an i10 or Santro.

With the achievement of the 30 lakh car sales, Hyundai seems to be in hurry to accomplish bigger dreams. The company is planning to expand its production capacity, and launch new models to maintain its grip on its 20 per cent market share in the Indian passenger car market.

“With marginal investment we can increase our capacity by 70,000 units per annum thereby taking the total capacity to 670,000 units. We will be launching new models with technology that models sold by competition do not have,” Park said.

posted by carazooblog @ Thursday, August 5th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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August 3, 2010

Hyundai Strikes Back, Regains Second Spot from Tata Motors

From time immemorial, we have heard and read about the constant tussle between Hyundai Motors and Tata Motors to be crowned as India’s second largest carmaker. For the most part of it, Hyundai has maintained a solid grip on its enviable position in the Indian market. But in the month of June, Hyundai slacked, and the opportunity was grabbed almost instantly by Tata Motors. Tata, very conveniently, moved the Korean car maker to the third position.

Much to the disappointment of industry experts who predicted that maintaining a grip on the second position would be a piece of cake for Tata Motors, Hyundai has struck back with vengeance and has regained its second spot in July. Even as the battle continued, Hyundai Motor India registered total sales of 28,811 units, a month after losing the spot to the rival, Tata Motors.

After the production of Nano started in June at the Sanand plant in Gujarat, Tata Motors registered enormous growth in its domestic sales. But despite the huge sales of the Nano, Tata Motors’ domestic sales in July stood at 27,864 units last month.

In June 2010, Tata Motors sold a total of 9,000 units of the Nano, while the figure for the same stood at 7,704 units in June. June 2010 was also the month when Tata Motors claimed the second spot by selling 27,811 units, as compared to 27,366 units sold by Hyundai Motors.

As per the statistics released by the two car manufacturing giants, while Hyundai’s domestic sales increased by only 24.22 per cent in July, Tata Motors’ sales surged by 62.08 per cent, all thanks to the excellent Nano sales. After the Nano’s mother plant at Sanand in Gujarat was inaugurated on June 2, the Indian car manufacturer surprised the domestic auto industry by breaking the year-long hold of Hyundai.

In the midst of these two companies fighting it out for the second position, Maruti Suzuki is till marching ahead with its best-ever monthly sales in July 2010.

MSI, the country’s largest car maker, has registered a jump of 29.18 per cent in sales for July at 1,00,857 units. Domestic sales in July 2010 are also the highest ever domestic sales in a month. With total domestic sales of 90,114 units in July 2010, MSI has registered a 33.45 per cent increase from 67,528 units in July 2009.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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June 29, 2010

Tata Intends To Replace Hyundai as India’s Second Largest Car Maker

Just a few days back, the Indian government increased the fuel prices, and also decided to free the fuel prices in India. But guess what, it may actually come as a good news to a few car manufacturers. But when you think of one car manufacturer that stands to gain the most from this move is our very Tata Motors.

Thanks to the Indian government’s decision to end state controls on gasoline prices, Tata Motors now stands a chance to push Hyundai Motors off its proud perch as the No. 2 automaker in India. Tata will have an easy task luring the loyal customers of Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki, as it has a wide range of diesel engine cars.

Almost 80 per cent of Tata’s total sales come from the diesel engine models. Tata boasts of having not only diesel Indica hatchbacks and Indigo sedans, the company also plans to develop diesel engine variant of the world’s cheapest car, Nano. Diesel engine models account for about 20 percent of sales at Maruti, and the numbers are much dismal for Hyundai. But what do we say about a few car manufacturers, like Honda, that don’t even consider launching diesel cars in India? Currently, Hyundai does not have any diesel engine options in its small car portfolio.

Diesel is almost 20 percent cheaper than petrol in India. According to industry experts, the end of gasoline subsidies may increase the nationwide sales of diesel cars, which currently accounts for less than 25 percent, to as much as 30 percent in the next two years.

Prakash M. Telang, the head of Tata’s India operations, said, “The decision to free fuel prices is a good concept that the country needs in the long run.” With the inauguration of the Sanand plant, which will make as many as 250,000 Nanos annually, the Indian car maker intends to pass Hyundai Motors as India’s second-biggest carmaker.

But the sales of the diesel models may get negatively affected by a few factors. First is the buying cost, diesel cars are more expensive than their petrol counterparts. Besides, the Indian government plans to end the subsidies on diesel eventually, and when that final blow comes, diesel engine cars would lose out their charms to the Indian car buyers.

Additionally, the government-appointed panel that recommended the free fuel pricing policy in India has also recommended that the government levy additional duties on diesel engine vehicles.

In an other news of a sort, Tata Motors is also planning to bring in a vehicle in the price category of Rs 20-30 lakh. The concept car that is being jointly developed by Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover is at DR0 stage. This would be the first project that would bring Tata and JLR teams together, and supposedly, the car’s platform would be developed in India.