After recording its biggest-ever net profits since starting operations 27 year ago, followed by a lineup overhaul, Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) is now looking to spruce up its ranking in its parent’s global pecking order to the number two spot.
HMIL has shrunk the gap with its parent entity’s sales in Korea this year compared to 2022. India is presently the third largest market for Hyundai globally behind the US and Korea but ahead of China.
Unsoo Kim, managing director and CEO, HMIL said, “India is the third biggest market for Hyundai globally. We want to be number 2 but it also depends on the Korean domestic market also.”
From a little over 136,000 units in 2022, the difference between Hyundai’s volumes in India and Korea is down to little over 108,000 units. This is even as Hyundai’s India annual manufacturing capacity which stands at around 850,000 is little over half compared to its Korean capacity of 1.6 million annually.
The proposed addition of the General Motors plant near Pune will help it have 1 million units per annum capacity under its belt. The plant acquisition which will bring in around 130,000 units capacity, is expected to be complete before the end of the current year and will help in easing the peak capacity utilization level.
With a full revamp of its portfolio, including the launch of new models like Exter, i20 N Line and the new Verna, Hyundai is looking to finish the year with best-ever volumes. This comes on the back of record profits generated by HMIL during FY23.
At Rs 4,709 crore, the net profit posted by HMIL was not just the best-ever for it but it was also higher by 65% compared to FY22 profits. The company also went past the Rs 60,000 crore revenue mark last year.
With electric vehicles (EV) gaining popularity, Hyundai will commence launches in the segment next year. Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, is also planning to debut in the EV segment in 2024-25.
While Hyundai does have a couple of EV products, they are in the premium segment priced between Rs 24 lakh to Rs 46 lakh (ex-showroom). The majority of the EV market, however, is in the below Rs 15 lakh segment, dominated by Tata Motors.
“We have a couple of EVs in the market and maybe next year we will have one more which will be localised,” Kim added.
