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Hyundai rules out new models for one year

Indivjal Dhasmana in New Delhi

Hyundai Motors India Limited does not have any plans to roll out any new model other than the Accent ''at least for another one year,'' says director (marketing and sales) B V R Subbu.

Denying reports in a section of the press that HMIL is mulling over the idea of introducing multi-utility vehicle, Subbu said that all options before the company are open.

A study on launching a new vehicle will begin in November and it may not necessarily cover the MUV. ''It has not been decided as yet whether to initiate the study on MUV or passenger cars.''

The study will take at least four months to complete and if any decision is taken to produce a new vehicle, it will take a minimum of ten months before the model could be rolled out, he said.

The actual time of coming out with the new vehicle depends on the kind of model that the study favours. This leaves time at least till October 2000 for the company to concentrate only on the Accent and the Santro.

On semi-automatic version of the Santro, Subbu said the commercial aspect of the vehicle is yet to be studied. ''We have not so far commenced study on this front as well. The feasible study is likely to commence early next year,'' he said.

Regarding non-AC version of the Santro, Subbu said that the vehicle variant is completely ruled out. A study by the company confirmed that customers of non-AC vehicles are moving towards AC versions, which are now considered as minimum level that passenger cars' customers want.

The company would concentrate only on the Accent and the Santro for at least another one year and has set the target of selling 60,000 units for both the vehicles this fiscal and 72,000 units the next financial year.

The company expects to register Rs 15 billion turnover this fiscal from its India operations of which Rs 3.5 billion are targetted from the Accent. For the next financial year, the company is planning to record Rs 18 billion to Rs 20 billion, including Rs 8 billion from the Accent.

While two petrol versions of the Accent would be launched on October 14, the company is waiting for the Supreme Court's final order on vehicular pollution before introducing diesel version of the model.

The base model of the Accent will have an Alpha engine, powered by 1,500 cc,12-valve, four-cylinder, multi-point fuel injection system.

The Accent will be available in four-door sedan version with five-speed manual and four-speed auto-boxes. Safety is enhanced through side impact bars and a stronger and rigid body.

Initially, the average indigenisation level of the car will be 70 per cent. It took about two years from the concept stage to final production for the Accent to be made available across the world.

However, the company would import the engine for diesel version of the Accent from Peugeot.

The new Accent, known as the Verna in the rest of the world, will be manufactured in Korea, India and Turkey.

For the US market, the cars will be exported from Korea. Initially, the Accent made in India will be exported to other South Asian countries.

The existing capacity of the Madras plant can accomodate the base model of the Accent and has a built-in flexibility to switch from one model to another within a short span of time.

UNI

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