Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) has silently ramped up production to more than 1,000 cars a day, responding to a pick-up in demand for its latest launches, the new Creta, new Verna and Venue, sources in the know told FE. That’s a five-fold jump in production at India’s largest car exporter and second largest car manufacturer which was rolling out just 200 cars when production resumed in early May. Persons familiar with developments at the Korean carmaker’s India subsidiary said it was running two shifts with an employee count of approximately 7,500 to 8,000 that included official staff at the factory. While permanent workers number a little over 2,250, the rest are official staff, contract workers and technicians.This compares with a workforce of little over 15,000 employees in the pre-lockdown period in March. Operations will be scaled up to match customer demand, a company spokesperson said, adding that enquiries for the more popular models were rising. Hyundai has rolled upthe shutters at its showrooms and workshops following approvals from central and state authorities. More than1, 032 dealerships and rural sales outlets along with 1,169 service workshops have now opened across India.
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In May, the company registered cumulative sales of 12,583 units, including 5,700 units in the overseas market. “We delivered 6,883 new vehicles to local customers in 22 days since we resumed production,” the spokesperson said. He added the the company has received more than 15,000 customer enquiries via the online channel ‘Click to Buy’, which was introduced last month. “We have already sold over 100 cars through this online channel and hope some of the inquiries will be converted into sales,” he said. Moreover, the new Creta which was launched in mid-March has already received over 26,000 bookings. The company expects car sales to improve in line with a preference for personal mobility over shared mobility. “We believe there will be interest in the compact and used-car segments,” the official said. Hyundai runs a used-car business with a network of H Promise outlets across India that retail pre-owned and certified Hyundai cars.
