‘No strategy to counter Rs 1 lakh car, as we do not want to operate in that space’

When we talk about domestic sales growth our problem is of a different kind. Right now, we are in the process of making India our hub for small car exports and due to limited capacity in our plant in Chennai, domestic sales have been throttled as we have tried to service our export commitments. We have faced some difficulties in July and August as we had back orders as sales for export markets for October and November had to be dispatched during this period.

Considering that the industry is reeling under the impact of high interest rates, by when do you expect things to improve?

I hope that September onwards things will start improving as the festive season buying picks up. Further, the second half of the year is always better than the first half hence the temporary hiccups notwithstanding we would be able to achieve our target sales of 2,30,000 units in the domestic market.

Going forward what can we expect by way of new launches from the Hyundai stables?

Our long term strategy is to make India a hub for small cars and our emphasis will continue to be on the same lines. We would be launching another small car code-named PA by the end of this year and this will be one model that is being launched first in India. The feasibility tests of Getz diesel are also on and once its through it will also be launched in the near future. Further, tests for Santa Fe is also on and we may launch it in place of Tucson.

Hyundai has by far been the country’s biggest car exporter but with Maruti, Tata, Nissan and Mahindra and Mahindra, all having substantial export targets for 2010 what is your strategy going to be?

As I have said earlier, India will be our exclusive small car export hub and with our second plant going onstream by November exports will get a fillip. Out of our total capacity our exports account for only one-third but by 2010 this will go up to 50 per cent even as our base will also be doubled.

There is a lot of excitement in the industry regarding Tata’s upcoming Rs 1 lakh car. As the second largest passenger carmaker in the country, how do you plan to tackle the challenge?

We do not have any strategy to counter Tata’s Rs 1 lakh car as we do not want to operate in that space. In my view, without adequate government support feasibility of a Rs 1 lakh car is highly suspect. There are parameters like safety and emission which would be tough to match under the given circumstances. I am not saying that in the case of Tata these issues will not be addressed but Hyundai as a company does not think it is feasible for us to try and attempt such a car.

Do you support stricter emission and safety norms and agree to the view that safety norms are lax in the country today?

Absolutely. In the case of emission we are doing good and have a calibrated structure in place. But safety has been an area of neglect and our norms are not in tune with international safety features. It is time we have mandatory crash tests as safety is an area of prime concern. For instance, all Hyundai cars conform to all safety norms including crash.