Hyundai India will invest around ₹1,000 crore on each of its models and plans to unveil at least one new product every year till 2020.

Sources in the company said that the South Korea-headquartered company plans to introduce new and refurbished models every year, thereby redefining the price value equation of ownership. The company has an investment outlay of ₹1,000 crore for every new product.

Hyundai has a 17.2-per cent market share in the passenger vehicles segment and has a total of 10 premium vehicles in its line-up.

The company expects to increase its market share by 1 per cent every year, YK Koo, Managing Director and CEO of Hyundai Motors India, told BusinessLine , in an e-mail interview. Koo, who took charge a month ago, was one of the key executives who was part of the launch team when Hyundai started operations in India in 1997.

The car-maker has its manufacturing plant near Chennai. Till date, it has invested $2.7 billion in India, has a production capacity of 6.8 lakh vehicles per annum and caters to both domestic and overseas markets.

Hyundai is also the country’s largest exporter of cars with a 25.4 per cent share in exports.

Award for Creta

Koo said the recent Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) award for its model Creta clearly shows that Hyundai has been able to launch products which find wide acceptance among customers here.

This is the third year in a row that Hyundai has won this award.

He said Hyundai will increase the production of Creta, the sports utility vehicle, to over 8,000 units a month beginning next year. It has bookings for 75,000 units so far, of which about 35,000 units have been delivered till now.

No comeback for Santro

He, however, said that there are no plans to bring back its highly successful hatchback Santro in India. The car, which was launched in 1998, was a runway success for the South Korean car maker in India. It was replaced by another hatchback i10 a few years ago.

Rural market share up

The rural market forms a crucial part of Hyundai Motor India’s sales plan, Koo said. The company has been able to increase its share in the rural market because of the low cost of acquisition, low cost of ownership and higher re-sale value. The company is witnessing an increase in sales in the rural market, which accounts for about 21 per cent of its overall sales. Compared with last year, its sales in the rural market have increased 1 per cent.

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