The country’s second largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) has increased its production capacity by 50,000 units thus taking its total annual output to around 820,000 against the earlier 770,000 units. Speaking to Fe, chief operating officer (COO) Tarun Garg said that as a result of capacity expansion, since July the company has been producing 4,000 more units a month, which has seen its monthly wholesales going up to 53,000 units from the earlier 48,000.
Garg said that the increase in output has brought down the waiting period also for the popular selling models. “The overall waiting period is now around one to two months, against six months earlier,” he said.
The company expects healthy demand during the upcoming festive period. “I think the growth will be reasonably good. Because, last year, it was all about the two things — shortage of supply, and lot of pent up demand. This year, supply is very good. The 10-day stock has risen to 20 to 25 days and there’s fresh demand in place of pent up demand,” Garg said.
He said that the recently launched entry-level SUV Exter has received a good response.
“Cumulatively, 70,000 bookings have been received for Exter since its launch,” Garg added.
Hyundai expects to increase the share of SUVs in its overall sales to about 60% from the current 53% on the back of the Exter.
He said that during January-August, sales increased by 9% on a year-on-year basis and the momentum will be maintained in the balance period of the year.