Hyundai rules out separate finance unit for credit

Hyderabad, Nov 18 (UNI) ''After having revised downward its production and sales target in the wake of the credit slowdown in India'', Korean car maker Hyundai today ruled out setting up its own separate finance unit to extend credit and for boosting sales in the country.

Faced with ''undue long process'' to clear loans with backdrop of global meltdown, Hyundai Motors India Ltd (HMIL), the subsidiary of the South Korean auto group, has instead of starting its own separate wing to finance car loans, it was holding talks with the financial institutions in India to accelerate the process of giving credit to its dealers. Already the sales target of the current fiscal had been scaled down from 3.18 lakhs units to 2.75 lakhs units, according to HMIL Director (Sales) Y K Koo.

Its production facility at Chennai would also revise its target depending on the market demand. The company was already logging a healthy eight per cent year-on-year(YoY) growth against the industries five per cent this year.

Looking at increasing the market shares in India to 28 per cent, the company, despite the financial crisis, planned to put 300 dealers across India by March 2009 from the current 214 dealers, Mr Koo said after opening the new showroom of Kun United Hyundai here.

Andhra Pradesh is an important market and as it is the fourth largest in India. The company has also rescheduled the launch of new models, the ILO version, expected to release in India some time in January next year. The smaller 800 CC models from the company was expected to be on road around 2009-10.

UNI DB KVV 2030