South Korea's Hyundai Motor and a local government partner are aiming to sign a final deal this week on a low-cost carmaking joint venture despite stiff opposition from labour unions who fear the move would cause job losses and cut wages.

In a first such move for Korea's biggest automaker, Hyundai and the southwestern city of Gwangju agreed on Tuesday on a preliminary deal to jointly build a new factory which will have an annual capacity of 100,000 mini-SUVs starting in 2021.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Managing Director & CEO Y K Koo has stepped down from his post. He is moving back to the automaker's head office in Korea. Koo will be replaced by Seon Seob Kim, head of the business operations division.

While HMIL officials were not available for comment immediately, Hyundai's global announcement stated that Kim would become the head of Hyundai Motor India headquarters.

A team from the Hyundai group visited Visakhapatnam Steel Plant of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) to explore the possibility of setting up a steel plant in partnership with the public sector steel major.

A delegation of Hyundai representatives, led by the South Korean ambassador, was at the plant site last month. These are government-to-government talks, said RINL Chairman and Managing Director P K Rath.

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Competition Commission of India’s order that imposed over Rs 420-crore penalty on the country’s second-largest car maker Hyundai Motors India for anti-trade practices including lack of standardisation of spare parts and allowing original equipment suppliers (OESs) to sell spare parts in the open market without any restrictions.

South Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai will be investing ₹7,000 crore to expand its facility at Sriperumbudur, near here, and to make new models and electric vehicles, chief executive officer and managing director of its Indian subsidiary, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., Y.K. Koo, said here on Monday.

South Korean auto major Hyundai could bring in a smaller electric SUV to India after assessing the response for its bigger Kona electric SUV which it plans to introduce in the country next year, a top company official said.

The company, which operates in the country through its wholly-owned subsidiary Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), would launch its first electric model Kona in the second half of the next year.

Globally, it was called Hyundai Atos. When this tall car with a short bonnet and a vertical back was launched in India on September 23, 1998, Hyundai chose the name Santro—taken from Saint-Tropez, the French city famous for fashion—because the company wanted to project it as a ‘fashionable’ new car. It was the first uniquely-designed small car that was not a Maruti (Fiat had launched the forgettable Uno in 1996), and it appealed to customers.

India’s second largest carmaker Hyundai Motor India Ltd will ship out its all new Santro model to global markets apart from catering to the domestic market, said a top company official on Tuesday.

The company will begin booking for the new model online from Wednesday onwards till October 22, he said.

Hyundai’s three SUVs—Santa Fe, Nexo and Kona—have received silver awards in the automotive and transportation category at the global Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) awards. The award selects winners of 20 categories, including automotive and transportation, consumer technology, and service design, based on standards such as design innovation, user experience and social responsibility.

On Friday, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) launched the Next Gen Verna Anniversary Edition. The model will be limited to 1,000 units, will be available in a single trim, the SX(O), in manual and automatic transmissions and petrol and diesel variants, and will be available in two colours—white and marina blue.

Changes are merely ornamental—front and rear skid plates, black ORVM, shark-fin antenna, rear spoiler, wireless phone charging, and an anniversary edition emblem engraving.

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