NEW DELHI: The launch and success of the mini sports utility vehicle (SUV) Exter has greatly added to Hyundai’s monthly sales volume and there has been zero cannibalisation of the sub-compact Venue SUV from Exter, said Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) chief operating officer (COO) Tarun Garg.
“Exter is consistently clocking 8,000 units/month, showcasing what a success it has been among customers. Before Exter was launched, we were doing 49,000 units per month in domestic sales which has now grown to 55,000 units per month,” Garg told TNIE in an interaction.
The COO added that contrary to the market belief that Exter would impact Venue sales as they are essentially ‘small SUVs’, the cannibalization of the Venue model from Exter has been negligible.
“Like earlier times, Venue SUV continues to do 11,000 plus units per month. Many customers from hatchbacks in the industry are shifting to Extrer as this particular segment (mini SUVs) has grown from 10,000 units to 20,000 units,” said Garg.
Launched in July at a starting price of Rs 6 lakhs, Exter competes directly with Tata Motors Punch.
The Venue model which comes at a starting price of Rs 7.90 lakhs operates in the high-volume sub-compact SUV segment and competes with models such as Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Tata Motors Nexon, Mahindra XUV 300 and Kia Sonet.
Garg said that the company’s decision to offer 6 airbags as standard across its lineup is turning out to be a game-changer for them.
“As customers are seeking better safety features, the 6 airbag feature has led to traction in the entry-level segment and has improved sales for models such as Grand i10 Nios, i20 and Aura. Our portfolio of small cars is doing well unlike the segment (for the Pv industry) which has seen a sharp decline,” added Garg.
In an industry first, Hyundai on October 3 announced that all the company models will be fitted with 6 airbags as standard, across all variants, including the base trim.
At present, most carmakers offer the 6 airbag feature on the top-end variants of their model while the base models are fitted with either two or four airbags.
Giving a highlight of sales, Garg said that year to date (January-October), Hyundai has achieved a growth of 9.5%. Owing to its strong SUV lineup with models such as Venue, Exter, Creta, Alcazar and Tucson, this segment now contributes to 59% of Hyundai’s sales.
In the festive heavy month of October, Hyundai registered total sales of 68,728 units, up 18% year-on-year. Its domestic sales stood at 55,128 units, up 15% and SUV share here surged to 63%.
Garg said that now that only 2 months are left for the calendar year 2023, Hyundai is looking to close this year with a growth of 8-8.5% over last year.
Hyundai sold about 292,000 PVs between January and June 2023 and over 5.52 lakh units in CY22.
Garg expects the PV industry to close CY23 with about 4.1 million units, a growth of 7-7.50% year-on-year.
As for this year’s festive season with Dhanteras and Diwali soon to arrive, Hyundai is looking at a similar growth of 8-9%.
The COO also subsided concerns related to high inventory levels at dealer showrooms. “We have managed this well very well as we have only 21 days to inventory at showrooms. We have made sure that we are not taking the inventory at showrooms to an alarming level.”