Hyundai plans updated version of Sonata for Indian market

By K. T. Jagannathan

SEOUL, DEC. 9. The Korean automobile giant Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) is readying a prototype for an improvised version of the luxury car EF Sonata at Ulsan, its oldest plant, for possible introduction in the Indian market in the middle of next year.

The vehicle has already undergone extensive tests including the crash test at Namyang where the company's research and development centre is located.

According to Mr. Moon-Sik Kwon, director/head, Advanced Technology Lab, at the Namyang R & D division, the updated version for the Indian market will, however, be made at the fully-automated Asan plant, an hour's drive from here.

The yet-to-be-named improvised 2 litre EF Sonata model will hit the Korean roads first, perhaps within the next month or so.

Officials at HMC, however, are awaiting the announcement of the new Indian auto policy to firm up a concrete Sonata launch plan for India.

The company has, in the meantime, kept its options open - shipping out Sonata to India either in the CKD (completely knocked down) format or in the CBU (completely built unit) form.

Indications are that the big-sized Sonata car that will have electronically adjusted side mirrors and all kinds of luxury items may be priced above Rs. 14 lakhs in the sub-continent.

They are quite upbeat that it will nicely fill the vacuum that exists between the Lancer and Benz segments. Ranking officials at HMC reckon that if Sonata is to be viable in the sub-continent, the Indian subsidiary of HMC may have to sell a minimum of 200 cars a month.

The officials discounted the possibility of putting up yet another engine unit at its Indian facility near Chennai. The senior vice-president of the second plant at the Ulsan facility, Mr. M.H. Lee, pointed to the engine capacity constraint at the Indian plant.

The Indian plant can make 80,000 engines for the popular small car, Santro, and 50,000 for the mid-sized car, Accent annually. ``The Santro engine facility has no excess capacity,'' said Mr. Lee, who was in the core team that set up the Indian venture a couple of years ago.

An investment of at least $40 million will be needed to set up a fresh engine plant. The Koreans, it appears, are just keen to find out how the Indian market receives the new version of EF Sonata before contemplating to establish one more engine unit in the sub-continent.

World small car project

HMC officials have been exuding confidence that the ongoing parleys with DaimlerChrysler and Misubishi for a three-way co- operation on joint development of a world small car will translate into a concrete alliance. ``Hyundai has been working on this project for some time. We have been working on the engine and transmission. The design is ready,'' insist ranking officials of the company. Going by their claims, Hyundai, on its own, will be ready with a world small car in just a couple of years.

``We have scheduled it for 2002. It is our internal plan, not the joint plan,'' they said. Nevertheless, ``We propose to participate and make it a world car project,'' they added.

In such a scheme of joint development, the platform will be the same. The design of interiors, styling and marketing'' will be left to individual companies, official sources pointed out.

As the discussions were still on, HMC people ware unwilling to dwell on the cost of the project, the way of sharing it, the kind of co-operation and what not.

Is Hyundai seeking out DaimlerChrysler more to acquire some sort of a credible brand image? Clearly not, they quickly pronounced. ``The reality is we need to produce a world car in this segment. The reality is DiamlerChryser needs a car in this category. Mitsubishi, too, needs, it,'' a company spokesman pointed out.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : Wipro opens modern Chennai centre
Next     : Forex reserves touch all-time high