India’s second largest car maker Hyundai is pinning on the hope of retaining its position by initiating its engine unit in India. The move comes after a 3-month feasibility study and a final word will come off soon, said an official from the company. The unit will involve an investment of $550 million in an annual capacity of 3lakh units, he added maintaining the anonymity. Hyundai’s move is not new in the already increasing potential market for diesel engine in the country. The company may employ localization for certain components in the unit to be followed by other components like cylinder block heads.
However there is no final word from the MD of its Indian wing except the information about the i10 diesel variant. So is the case with the official spokesman of the company about the diesel engine unit. The company is more concerned about the rise of Ford Figo [images] rather than Nissan’s proposed small car Micra [images]. Ford Figo is doing well in the Indian market along with its diesel version. The Indian wing of Hyundai successfully completed the figure of 270000 i10s in 2009 which includes both petrol and diesel versions. The company has reserved the diesel version only for the export market and the engines are derived from its apex plant in South Africa.
The petrol i10 numbering 149000 are sold in India and a demand is there for a small diesel engine unit in the country, said the company’s director for sales and marketing. The problem is that the diesel engine has specifications not feasible for the Indian operations. Further the capacity for sale of diesel version should be 150000 to 200000 annual units, he added. Hyundai still is the largest exporter of cars from India and the second largest passenger car maker after Maruti Suzuki. Hyundai is the largest exporter for the sixth consecutive year.
the company witnessed a growth of 20.8 % by selling 600588 cars last year. The Indian wing of the company exports 110 countries including European Union, Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Australia. Hyundai has two plants in Chennai which take car of producing Santro Xing [images], i20 [images], Accent, Verna [images] and Sonata Transform [images].