Pointing out that “aspirations” of a car buyer in India are fast overtaking “functionality”, Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer of Hyundai Motor India Ltd, on Thursday said 50 per cent of the company’s customers are opting for cars with “sunroof.”
“Aspiration is taking over functionality. Customers are becoming more and more younger, as their disposable incomes are increasing. The key buying factors have changed to design, technology, features. Sunroof is being bought by close to 50 percent of customers. We introduced ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) and today 8 out of 13 Hyundai models have ADAS and the ADAS penetration in these models have increased to more than 25 percent. Very clearly we are seeing more and more customers wanting SUVs, more features and safety,” said Garg, who was in Ahmedabad to talk about the company’s upcoming ₹27,870 crore IPO.
“About five years back, it was predominantly hatchbacks. But now we see 58 percent of our sales are SUVs. This is the first big change that is happening. Earlier, the first time buyers wanted to buy hatchbacks. But now, even the first-time buyers are buying SUVs,” he said, adding that customers prefer Creta and Venue models. “The first-time buyer is an important indicator. Our overall first-time buyer penetration was 32 percent five years ago. This has now become 38 percent. Earlier, the focus was on cheaper price and fuel efficiency, today technology, space, safety feature are not being compromised,” Garg added.
Talking about Hyundai customer preferences, the COO said that while diesel variants were popular in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat, petrol variants were preferred in Delhi and North East, while CNG was very popular in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. He also pointed out that customers in Kerala and Mumbai want more automatics, while those in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh largely prefer manual transmission.