Hyundai bets big on new family hatchback

Hyundai bets big on new family hatchback

Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) expects passenger vehicles (PV) sales to pick up from next month with the launch of its new family hatchback, a senior company official said on Thursday on the sidelines of the annual SIAM conference.

“The Onam festival season was a dampener for PV makers due to floods in Kerala. The industry lost out on sales of nearly 32,000 vehicles. September sales are likely to remain low as well due to new insurance regulations and shradh period. We can expect the growth to be back from October onwards,” Puneet Anand, senior general manager (marketing), HMIL told FE. Hyundai’s domestic sales were down nearly 3% y-o-y in August after growing by just 1% in the previous month.

“There is growth momentum in the PV market. We have a new car launch in October. It will get us new customers and add to our sales,” Anand said.

He said the company is focusing on the aspirational value of the brand which is being reflected in the rising sales of Hyundai’s premium offerings like Xcent, Creta, Elite i20 among others.