Hyundai studying US market for i10 launch

Hyundai Motor India is studying the US market to develop strategies for launching its small car, the i10.

The US is not a “small car market” and hence introducing the i10 will involve careful study of the market.

“The ‘Elantra’ is considered a small car in the US,” said Han-Woo Park, referring to the 1.8-litre, Rs 8-lakh car, one of the premium vehicles in India.

While the Americans are not typical small car buyers, changes in the economy and rising oil prices could cause a shift in preference towards the more fuel-efficient vehicles, Park told Business Line today.

The i10 was launched in October last year and has already sold 190,000 numbers. Hyundai expects to cross the 200,000-mark in less than two weeks from now.

Nearly half the sales have been outside India — something that has given Hyundai India the confidence to take it across the Atlantic.

The car, manufactured only in India, is currently sent to over 100 countries.

Hyundai has an overseas order backlog of 15,000 cars. To mark the success of the i10, Hyundai India is taking two cars of that model to the Paris Motor Show that is to take place early October.

The cars are to be flown to Istanbul and will be driven through a circuitous route touching several countries in Europe, before reaching Paris.

The journey of the i10 began on September 10 at New Delhi, when the cars were flagged off from the India Gate.

The Indian leg concluded with the arrival of the cars to Chennai today. From here, they will be airlifted to Istanbul.

Reworked engine

To suit European tastes, Hyundai India has played around the Kappa engine, giving it a 50 per cent additional power.

Since the launch of the 1.2-litre Kappa engine last July the company has churned out about 25,000 units of i10 with the new engine.

The demand for Kappa engine has been increasing since the engine is Euro 5 ready and emits only 119g/km of CO2, which is the lowest for this class of cars.

However, for the European customers, the capacity of the Kappa has been raised to 1.25-litres. The increase of 50 cc in the cubic capacity of the combustion chamber supports the additional power and torque requirements of European customers, said the Vice-President (Operations) of the company, M. Inderjit.

Besides it also supports the additional load drawn by accessories like heater and such things that consume more power from the battery, he added. At present about 60 per cent of the i10s exported is with Kappa engine, the rest feature the 1.1-litre ‘Epsilon’ engine.