On Hyundai going premium
‘WE LAUNCHED BOTH the Elantra and the Tucson in the last year. We are very happy with the Elantra. In the last four months, the Elantra has been the market leader in its segment. But for the Tucson, the sales and the market response are not up to the mark. We are analysing the reason, but haven’t given up. It is our responsibility to continue and increase the sales for the Elantra and the Tucson. When we had the test drives for the Tucson in Chandigarh with the journalists, according to them it was a fantastic product, good in both petrol and diesel options, they said don’t worry you can sell minimum 500 and then 1000 units. I am not blaming anyone. The response has been good, but it has not been directly linked to the sales.
‘For the Tucson and Elantra, the most popular trim is top-of-the-line one. The Elantra costs around `20-21 lakh, the Tucson is almost `27 lakh. Maybe pricing is one of the reasons it does not sell. We are working on marketing and advertising, and it will take some time. Even with the Santa Fe, we were not successful, but we have to make the Tucson as much of a success as possible.
‘We will launch the all-wheel drive Tucson in May. We will strategise sales, marketing and advertising as well. This year, we invited journalists on the Great India Drive to have a long test drive for Tucson and cover all of India. The Great India Drive is our first strategy. In the meantime we will also start more marketing and sales networks. The Tucson is new and it will take time. We are not in a hurry and we will make it. When we launched Tucson and Elantra, we also launched a special customer care program HPAP – Hyundai Premium Assist Program, costing `30,000. It comes with three years warranty, a three time maintenance programme and a customer home visit after 15 days, six months and then a year and a half after buying the car.
‘We don’t have plans to have a separate channel for premium cars at the moment. We have almost 11 models for the Indian market and 475 dealers, which we are targeting to increase to 500 sales outlets in 2017. The Tucson and Elantra are premium products, we are not providing these premium models to our entire dealer network. We shortlist dealers in big cities that have space to display them and then we provide these dealers with the cars. In these big cities, the Eon volume is very marginal. Bigger markets for the Eon are Guwahati, Shimla, Kochi and Bhopal.
‘HMC is ready to provide Genesis in India, but still I think we are not ready to sell it here yet. We have to increase sales of the Tucson and Elantra, and have to first make a more powerful and premium brand. Then maybe we can be ready to sell the Genesis in India. We need a much wider network, captain cities and a strong dealer network. Then we select who is strong, capable and ready to invest, because for Genesis, the showroom and workshop will be exclusive to the brand. Once we make a mark in the premium segment, with the Tucson and the Elantra we will consider about bringing Genesis to India.
‘Within four years by 2020, we will introduce eight new products with a `5000 crore investment. Of the eight, three will be new segment products which we do not have in our current portfolio. This will include a compact SUV, Ioniq, and a family-oriented product. The new Verna is coming soon, in the second half of 2017 and as a mild hybrid in 2018. The Creta is less than two years old, so we are okay in the market for now. The facelift should come by first half of 2018.’