Hyundai reclaims top car exporter spot from Ford

Korean carmaker Hyundai has reclaimed the tag of biggest car exporter after a gap of one year. American auto giant Ford, which for the first time emerged as the biggest exporter from India last year, is now second. Hyundai, which exports vehicles to more than 80 destinations, has managed to clock 23 per cent growth in shipments during the April-August period of the financial year 2018-19.

The growth comes even as the total passenger vehicle (cars, utility vehicles, and vans) export from the country has declined more than 3 per cent to 291,896 units in the first five months, according to Siam data. Ford’s export volume has declined by 12.52 per cent to 65,176 units during April-August period. In the entire FY18, the firm had done a record export of 181,148 units, ahead of Hyundai’s 153,942 units.

The current year has not been great so far for the leading car exporters. In the top five list of exporters — Hyundai, Ford, Maruti Suzuki, General Motors, and Volkswagen— it is only Hyundai which is clocking growth. Maruti Suzuki has seen a decline of 5 per cent while General Motors and Volkswagen have slipped by 5 and 26 per cent, respectively. Except Maruti and Hyundai, the other top exporters sell more units in exports than in the domestic market.

In FY18, Hyundai’s exports had declined by 8 per cent. But the surge in this financial year is coming on account of a sharp growth in export volume of its hatchback the Grand i10 and Verna. A total of 24,188 units of the Grandi10 were exported between April and August this year, up 49 per cent YoY. The firm also exported over 16,600 units of the Creta SUV and over 12,300 Verna sedans were exported by the Korean auto major against none in the same period last year. Besides these models, the company also exported over 8,100 units of the Xcent and over 8,800 Elite i20 cars.

Y K Koo, managing director and CEO, Hyundai Motor India, said after Vietnam and Philippines, a few more countries, including a few in Asia and South America are planning to increase tax rates for car exported as completely built units (CBUs).

Ford did not comment on the queries shared related to decline in exports. A company official, however, said numbers would pick up in the coming months with introduction of new models. Exports of all models — the Figo, Figo Aspire and EcoSport — have reported a decline. Export is highly critical for Ford’s India operations since as much as 60 per cent of the sales contribution come from exports.