Hyundai India confident of keeping SUV lead as competition heats up

Korean auto giant Hyundai is looking to up its ante as competition in the SUV segment becomes fierce. The automaker, which is the market leader with around 24 per cent share of SUV market--the most popular one in India’s auto market, will look to repackage its most popular variants with more features to increase their appeal among millennials.

Today, the carmaker introduced the facelift of its popular model in the sub-4m compact SUV--Venue in the Indian market. There are massive changes in the looks that ensure that the new Venue stands out compared to the pre-facelift model.

Hyundai has been facing tough competition from a revived Tata Motors for the second spot in the domestic passenger vehicle industry. It is counting on its continuous focus on new product launches and the introduction of new technologies to maintain its leadership in the market.

Simultaneously, market leader Maruti Suzuki, which has been a laggard in the SUV segment, is looking to recoup its share in the segment with a slew of launches this year. It has already launched upgraded Celerio, and mid-cycle refresh of Baleno as well as XL6. Going forward, Maruti Suzuki would be launching new models with four new SUVs, platform upgrade (Alto) and mid-cycle refresh (Brezza).

Hyundai’s sister unit Kia Motors has also made big inroads in the SUV segment with the Sonnet and Seltos.

“In the past two years, there has not been any let-off in new model launches, or on the upgradation of models. So, we have never let the foot off the accelerator and I believe we will continue to bring in solutions for the customers,” said Tarun Garg, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Director-Sales, Marketing, Service.

“From the time we entered the country with Santro, we have always believed in raising the bar and bringing global technologies to India, whether it was the engines, ventilated seats and features, which were only seen in the high-end cars. It is because we believe that customers deserve such features,” Garg added. 

Hyundai’s India unit has become one of the star performers for its global headquarters driving on the leadership of the SUV segment. The company, which now gets half of its volumes from SUVs, plans to launch a new version of premium SUV Tucson and an electric SUV adding to the portfolio of five — Venue, Creta, Alcazar, Tucson and Kona EV to further fortify its position.

In a segment where there have been more than 50 new launches in the last three years, Creta from the Hyundai stable has been the bestseller this year with sales of 1,25,437 units.