Hyundai Motors to launch LPG Santro

New Delhi, Sep 20: With the festive season around the corner, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) on Saturday, Sep 20 said it will launch the LPG version of Santro next month.

''We will launch the LPG version of the Santro next month, followed by Accent later,'' HMIL Senior Vidce President (Marketing and Sales) Arvind Saxena told reporters here. Santro and Accent is already available in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad in the CNG variant. ''The company, however, has no plans of rolling out the electric versions of any existing models,'' he said.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of South Korea-based Hyundai Motor Company, HMIL had registered cumulative sales growth of 57.5 per cent in August.

The company expects to maintain this growth as sales pick up during the festival season.

''We are also hopeful to continue the sales growth momentum for the upcoming months as our entire product range is helping us to establish a strongfoot hold in the market,'' he said.

Car sales have hit the reverse gear, with manufacturers registering dip in sales compared to the double-digit growth in August last year.

This slump in sales has been attributed to rising inflation and interest rates coupled with high fuel prices, which continued to dissuade customers from any fresh purchases.

Commenting on the company's future small car project, Mr Saxena said, ''we will not go for a Nano but whatever we manufacture will be done keeping in mind the Indian customers,'' adding the car will be smaller and cheaper than the i10.

To give a first hand experience of the car and create potential customers, the company has also launched a new 'i10 kappa' challenge where customers can test drive the car with other compact cars and compare its superiority.

The new campaign which has sucessfully launched in eight cities of the country will next move to Bangalore followed by Hyderabad and Chennai.

UNI