In the face of a demand slump both in domestic and overseas markets, the country's second largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor India, on Monday said it will not be absorbing 1,200 trainees as it trims production. The carmaker is also planning to hike prices of its products by January."We will not be absorbing 1,200 trainees as we are cutting production to two shifts a day from the current three shifts at our Chennai plant," Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) President Ashok Jha said in New Delhi while launching the company's premium hatchback i20.The company has decided to cut its production by 20-25 per cent due to fall in demand, he added."As per mandatory requirement of Tamil Nadu government, we need to have 1,718 trainees in the company. We have been training more than the required number. While we will be following the mandatory requirement, we will not be taking in the excess trainees," Jha said.The company currently has about 3,500 trainees, whose courses would be finished within the next three months.Hyundai Motor India today launched its premium hatch back i20, which would be offered at an introductory price of Rs 4.80-Rs 5.82 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi)."Launching of a car requires at least 3-4 months of preparation, which we had already done. So, we decided to go ahead with the launch," HMIL Managing Director H S Lheem said. He said the company would raise prices of its products by January."Raw material prices have increased, labour costs have increased, and other input costs have also increased. We are looking to increase the prices by less than two per cent in some time in January," Lheem said.
