Hyundai Motor India is all set to ramp up exports of its popular Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV): the Venue. The Indian unit of the South Korean automobile giant announced on Saturday that it will begin shipping out a substantial number of Venues to new overseas markets from December: Latin America, Africa and the Gulf. “Hyundai Venue is ready to make its foray in the South African market from December 2, 2019, with the first major shipment of 1,400 units going to South Africa from the Chennai port on Saturday,” said the company.
So far, the auto-major has been shipping out the model to four overseas markets: Nepal, Bhutan, Mauritius and the Seychelles. As of the end of October, 1,589 units of the Venue had been exported to these markets.
The decision to increase the overseas market reach of the new SUV, which was launched in May this year, follows the relative success the model has had in India: a market where the automobile sector has been facing the worst demand downturn in nearly two decades. “Launched in May 2019, Venue has penned a new success story, having registered over 90,000 bookings (May-November, 2019) in India,” said S S Kim, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, adding “Hyundai promises to continue this momentum in the Year 2020 with new products coupled with new technology”.
While the Venue’s 1.0 Turbo GDi version with a Right Hand Drive system is being exported to all countries currently, including South Africa, a left hand drive (LHD) version of Venue is under development. “(This) is planned to be exported to the Gulf, Africa and Latin America,” the company said.
The prolonged demand slowdown in the domestic automobile segment has seen Indian automakers shift focus to export markets, which have been seeing demand increase steadily. Sales data for the first half of the current financial year shows that Hyundai has outraced FY19’s top exporter Ford India and has taken pole position, shipping a total of 103,300 units between April and September this year.