Hyundai Motor India MD & CEO S S Kim during the launch of the 6-7 seater SUV Alcazar, on Friday.As the Centre and states have relaxed lockdowns, Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) is expecting customer demand to be back and said that it will be driven by need for personal mobility.
While the automaker on Friday launched its 6-7-seater SUV Alcazar at a price of Rs 16.3 lakh, Tarun Garg, director—sales and marketing, HMIL, said the company is cautiously optimistic about customer demand. “Today, almost 85 per cent of the Indian market is open and we are cautiously optimistic as the customers are resilient and they have much more experience of Covid now. The shift towards personal mobility will be a big driving factor for vehicle demand,” he added.
A large player in the SUV segment, Hyundai has been ramping up its SUV portfolio and Alcazar is a new addition to the same. The company said that while it has been developed for the Indian market, it will be first sold only to the Indian customers.
India has seen a sharp rise in demand for utility vehicle (UV) segment over the last five years.
As per data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the share of UVs in the overall passenger vehicle (PV) sales in India has doubled over the last five years — from 21 per cent in 2015-16 to over 41 per cent in April 2021. In April, UV sales stood at 1,08,871 units within total PV sales of 2,61,633 units.
While Maruti Suzuki had a share of 23 per cent in April in the UV segment, Hyundai had 22 per cent share. Along with its group company Kia Motors, Hyundai had a 37 per cent market share.