PUNE: Hyundai Motor, India’s second biggest car maker, which launched its all-new Grand i10 Nios hatchback on Tuesday, said it will invest a total of Rs 7,000 crore on new products and technologies in the country despite a slowdown hitting automakers in the last nine months.
“We will invest a total of Rs 7,000 crore in developing new cars and technologies for the Indian market,” SS Kim, Managing Director and CEO at Hyundai Motor India told Financial Chronicle. The investments are over the next four years till 2022, he said.
The company has invested Rs 1,000 crore in developing the all-new Grand i10 Nios for the global market, Kim said.
“We have first introduced it here in India and it will also be exported to overseas markets,” Kim said.
India is one of the key markets for Hyundai which would be a growth engine for the brand, he pointed out despite fierce competition from arch rival Maruti Suzuki which command 51 per cent market share.
The Grand i10 Nios undercuts the entry-level Maruti Suzuki Swift by almost Rs 14,000 and will sit below Elite i20 in Hyundai's India line-up.
Hyundai, which competed 21 years in the country, achieved highest market share of 19.4 per cent last month despite car sales slump for the last one year.
Hyundai Grand i10 Nios is the third car launch of the company this year after compact SUV Venue and electric SUV Kona.
Kim said the made-in-India cars from its factory near Chennai are exported to about 90 countries, constituting 25 per cent of the total sales.
The Grand i10 Nios is based on a new platform. Since 2013, the South Korean manufacturer has sold more than 7.51 lakh Grand i10s in India.
