As you grow older you become more responsible, which is precisely how Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) sees itself now.

With India becoming the company’s regional headquarters, HMIL’s role has expanded to include developing products compliant with evolving government norms as well as introducing environment-friendly vehicles.

Speaking to BusinessLine in one of the first interactions after the global announcement last week, YK Koo, MD and CEO, HMIL, said: “India is one of the biggest and most important markets for Hyundai Motor, so setting up a regional headquarters here was natural.”

Apart from India, Hyundai Motor has announced regional headquarters in the US and Europe, effective July 2, as part of its restructuring plan that saw the formation of a Global Operations Division.

Long-term planning

With India as a regional hub, HMIL will find corporate planning easier, particularly in developing long-term strategies.

“It empowers us with more responsibility for long-term planning — for up to 10 years — for the local market, compared to the current three years. The main purpose is to target sustainable growth, not only in sales and service, but also in manufacturing and exports,” Koo said.

When asked if Indian engineers will also be involved in future designs and technologies, he said there is no specific decision on it right now. However, Indian engineers have always been part of the R&D team, working with their Korean counterparts, he pointed out.

“Local people are always part of the long-term strategies because they know the market better than the Koreans,” he quipped.

Santro comeback

As announced earlier, the company has eight new products to be launched soon, including the all-new entry-level car code named AH2, which many believe will be a comeback of Santro, the first model to be launched by Hyundai in India.

The company is currently running a campaign wherein customers can suggest names for the new car. “If ‘Santro’ gets the maximum votes, we may keep it,” said Koo.

The eight new products include an electric SUV, which will be launched next year. It will first be imported; later on it may be manufactured at the Chennai factory, Koo said, adding that government support is a must for such a decision.

Over the 20 years that it has been present in India, HMIL has become the ‘fastest’ auto manufacturer, rolling out its eight millionth car recently. Since inception, HMIL has sold 53,00,967 units in India and 27,03,581 units in exports globally.

The company is running a lot of marketing campaigns, will culminate with the launch of the AH2 (new Santro) before Diwali.

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