Hyundai Motor India eyes doubling exports

Kolkata, Jul 26 (UNI) The Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), the country's one of the largest auto manufacturers and passenger car exporters, is all set to double its exports in the current fiscal.

This was informed here today by HMIL Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Arvind Saxena, after introducing the company's recent roll-out of the i10 powered by new 1.2 litre advanced 'Kappa engine' from its Chennai plant.

'' The company's total exports in the previous fiscal stood at around 1,16,000 cars, which is likely to be raised to around 2,30,000 at the fiscal-end, '' Mr Saxena said.

He said the firm exported to over 95 countries, lying under European Union, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and South East Asia.

Mr Saxena informed that the firm currently exported around 45 per cent of its total output to overseas market, including Santro (Atos Prime), i10, Getz and Accent.

Meanwhile, the company's second plant in Chennai had raised the HMIL's production capacity to six lakh units per annum and a sum of USD one billion had been earmarked to be spent from 2006 to 2013 over different phases, the senior official said.

The HMIL's newly launched Kappa i10 engine is available in three variants, namely, the Magna, the Sportz and the Asta, priced at Rs 4.2 lakh to 5.47 lakh (ex-showroom).

The company eyes selling around 8,000-9,000 new-version vehicles per month in the domestic market, Mr Saxena said, projecting a total sales of 2.4 lakh units over a year. The engine would meet up to the Euro-V emission standards, he added.

The company registered a total sales of 327,160 vehicles in the calendar year 2007, recording a growth of 9.2 per cent over the corresponding period in 2006, Mr Saxena said.

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