Hyundai’s ‘Always Around’ campaign enters third consecutive year

With the novel idea of ‘Always There, Because We Care’ , Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the country’s largest passenger car exporter and the second largest car manufacturer, is back with its nationwide service initiative - ‘Always Around’ campaign in a mega avatar for the third consecutive year.

Starting from November 8th the ‘Always Around’ campaign will provide free check-ups for its customers at convenient locations. Last year around 80,000 Hyundai vehicles across 6,000 locations attended the camp.

This year, the ‘Always Around’ campaign has grown much wider in terms of locations and reach and will continue till December, 2009 covering 6,500 locations wherein Hyundai will be reaching out to around 90,000 customers in an effort to make them smile by ensuring that their car is in the best of condition. Around 4,000 vehicles across 270 locations nationwide are expected to attend the camp on the launch day itself.

The mega ‘Always Around’ campaign will be conducted at various locations which customers in their normal course of life frequent on an everyday basis like Joggers Park, Shopping Malls, Apartments, Multiplexes, etc. The ‘Always Around’ campaign is truly innovative one as it reaches out to the customers at a time and a place where it is most convenient for them and at no extra cost. For example, while the customer might be busy shopping in a mall, his car is serviced and cleaned which saves both his time and money as it is a free service, and the advice that he gets from trained technicians helps him maintain his car even better.

Along with the camp various value added services and schemes are offered e.g customer Referral Scheme, Hyundai Advantage, Health Check-Up Camps, customer education towards improving the vehicle mileage/performance, information related to Hyundai products, etc are also part of this campaign.

Commenting on the campaign, Arvind Saxena, Sr. V P, Marketing & Sales, HMIL said, “At Hyundai it is our belief that owning a car is a special experience; and the experience should be one of delight. With Always Around campaigns, we offer our customers the most convenient after sales service. The positive feedback received from the campaign till now has encouraged us to value add by adding more locations and offering more attractive schemes and offers.”

The ‘Always Around’ campaign will offer a comprehensive 17 point check-up and a thorough examination of the vehicle and services such as tyre and vehicle polishing, coolant and oil top-up. The Hyundai team will also collect suggestions and feedback on the performance of the vehicle & after sales service. The customers will also have a chance to see and test drive the latest Hyundai cars which would be there on display at the venue.

This year Shell India has partnered with Hyundai as the recommended lubricant supplier for ‘Always Around’ activity throughout the year. There will be active participation from Shell India at various locations to support the event to enable them to take valuable feedback directly from the customers.

Hyundai Motor India Limited

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea and is the second largest car manufacturer and the largest passenger car exporter from India. HMIL presently markets 54 variants of passenger cars across segments. The Santro in the B segment, the Getz Prime, i10 and the Premium hatchback i20 in the B+ segment, the Accent and the Verna in the C segment, the Sonata in the E segment and the Tucson in the SUV segment.

Hyundai Motor India, continuing its tradition of being the fastest growing passenger car manufacturer, registering total sales of 489,328 vehicles in the calendar year (CY) 2008, an increase of 49.6 percent over CY 2007. In the domestic market it clocked a growth of 22.4 percent as compared to 2007 with 245,397 units, while overseas sales grew by 92.5 percent, with exports of 243,931 units.

HMIL's fully integrated state-of-the-art manufacturing plant near Chennai boasts of the most advanced production, quality and testing capabilities in the country. In continuation of its commitment to provide the Indian customer with global technology, HMIL commissioned its second plant in February 2008 which produces an additional 300,000 units per annum, raising HMIL's total production capacity to 600,000 units per annum.

HMIL has invested to expand capacity in line with its positioning as HMC`s global export hub for compact cars. Apart from the expansion of production capacity, HMIL currently has 271 strong dealer network across India, which will be further bolstered in 2009.

In 2008, HMIL also successfully completed 10 glorious years of operations in India and to commemorate its achievements, initiated a unique trans-continental drive from Delhi to Paris in two of its hugely popular i10 Kappa cars. The drive created automobile history by completing a distance of 10,000km in just 17 days after which the i10s were showcased at the Paris Motor Show in October. In fact it was at the Paris Motor Show that HMIL first unveiled the Hyundai i20 and the car received a phenomenal response from the auto enthusiasts across the world. Hyundai Motor India also accomplished the landmark of producing the fastest 20th lakh cars in India in 2008.

Like 2008, the year 2007 had also been a significant year for Hyundai Motor India. It achieved a significant milestone by rolling out the fastest 400,000th export car. Hyundai exported to over 100 countries globally; even as it plans to continue its thrust in existing export markets, it is gearing up to step up its foray into new markets. 2007 also saw the launch of the i10 and yet another path-breaking record in its young journey by rolling out the fastest 1,500,000th car.

Hyundai`s new model i10 made a clean sweep of all the "Car of the Year 2008" awards from the leading automotive magazines and TV channels like BS Motoring, CNBC-TV18 AutoCar, NDTV Profit Car & Bike India and Overdrive magazine. The i10 was also the choice of the discerning automotive media of the country as they conferred the prestigious "Indian Car of the Year" (ICOTY) award to the i10 as well.

The Santro and the Accent also received the "TNS Voice of the Customer - 2008" award for the Premium Compact Car (Santro) and the Entry Mid size Car (Accent). In March 2008 it achieved yet another milestone by rolling out the fastest 500,000th export car.

In 2007, the Hyundai Verna had also bagged some of the most prestigious awards starting with the Overdrive magazine's "Car of the Year 2007", the "Best Mid-size Car of the Year" award from NDTV Profit Car & Bike India, the "Best Value for Money Car" from CNBC Autocar and "Performance Car of the Year" from Business Standard Motoring.

Hyundai cars have been a favorite at all awards ceremonies and has won many awards. The Sonata Embera won the "Executive Car of The Year 2006" award from Business Standard Motoring magazine and NDTV Profit Car & Bike India had declared the Tucson as the "SUV of The Year 2006".

Not only this, HMIL has also been awarded the benchmark ISO 14001 certification for its sustainable environment management practices.

Hyundai Motor India Limited

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea and is the second largest and the fastest growing car manufacturer in India. HMIL presently markets 34 variants of passenger cars across segments. The Santro in the B segment, the Getz Prime and the i10 in the B+ segment, the Accent and the Verna in the C segment, the Sonata Embera in the E segment and the Tucson in the SUV segment.

Hyundai Motor India, continuing its tradition of being the fastest growing passenger car manufacturer, registering total sales of 327,160 vehicles in the calendar year (CY) 2007, an increase of 9.2 percent over CY 2006. In the domestic market it clocked a growth of 7.6 percent as compared to 2006 with 200,412 units, while overseas sales grew by 11.8 percent, with exports of 126,748 units.

HMIL’s fully integrated state-of-the-art manufacturing plant near Chennai boasts of the most advanced production, quality and testing capabilities in the country. In continuation of its commitment to provide the Indian customer with global technology, HMIL has set up its second plant, which produces an additional 300,000 units per annum, raising HMIL’s total production capacity to 600,000 units per annum.

HMIL is investing to expand capacity in line with its positioning as HMC’s global export hub for compact cars. Apart from expansion of production capacity, HMIL plans to expand its dealer network, which will be increased from 232 to 260 this year.

The year 2007 has been a significant year for Hyundai Motor India. It achieved a significant milestone by rolling out the fastest 400,000th export car. Hyundai exports to over 90 countries globally; even as it plans to continue its thrust in existing export markets, it is gearing up to step up its foray into new markets. The year just ended also saw Hyundai Motor India attaining other milestones with the launch of the i10 and yet another path-breaking record in its young journey by rolling out the fastest 1,500,000th car.

Hyundai’s new model i10 which made its global debut here in India in October, 2007 made a clean sweep of all the ‘Car of the Year 2008’ awards from the leading automotive magazines and TV channels like BS Motoring, CNBC-TV18 AutoCar, NDTV Profit Car & Bike India and Overdrive magazine. The i10 is also the choice of the discerning automotive media of the country as they conferred the prestigious ‘Indian Car of the Year’ (ICOTY) award to the i10 as well. The i10 bagged these awards on the basis of excellence in build quality, handling, driver comfort, safety and ride quality.

The Santro and the Accent also received the ‘TNS Voice of the Customer - 2008’ award for the Premium Compact Car (Santro) and the Entry Mid size Car (Accent). In March 2008 it achieved yet another milestone by rolling out the fastest 500,000th export car.

Last year, the Hyundai Verna bagged some of the most prestigious awards starting with the title of "Car of the Year 2007" by India`s leading automotive publication – Overdrive, the “Best Mid-size Car of the Year” award by the NDTV Profit Car & Bike India Awards 2007, the “Best Value for Money Car” by the CNBC Autocar Auto awards and ‘Performance Car of the Year 2007’ from Business Standard Motoring.

Hyundai cars have been a favorite at all awards ceremonies and have always been winning awards. Our models like Sonata Embera won the ‘Executive Car of The Year 2006’ award from Business Standard Motoring Magazine and NDTV Profit Car & Bike India declared the Tucson as the ‘SUV of The Year 2006’. Not only this, HMIL has also been awarded the benchmark ISO 14001 certification for its sustainable environment management practices.

Car-mania continues despite inflation

HYUNDAI Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Monday reported a34 per cent increase in domestic car sales during June at 21,881 units while the country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki recorded a flat growth of 0.7 per cent selling 56,411 units during the month. SUV maker Mahindra &Mahindra (M& M), which markets diesel- run vehicles, recorded an eight per cent growth during the month. Hyundai did well with its i10 and Santro, while Maruti Suzuki notched up a high growth of 48 per cent in the A3 segment with its Swift Dzire and Sx4 models, selling as many as 5,807 units during the month, compared to 3,923 units in June last year. Inclusive of exports, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd reported a slightly higher growth of 2.22 per cent rise in total vehicle sales during June at 61,247 units, compared to 59,917 units in the same month last year.

In the A2 segment, comprising Alto, Zen Estillo, Wagon R and Swift, the company registered a marginal growth of 0.3 per cent at 37,767 units, against 37,646 units in the same month last year. Its M800 model recorded 13.73 per Maruti Suzuki’s sales grew 48 per cent year- on- year cent decline at 5,361 units in June, compared to 6,214 units during the corresponding month last year. Exports during the month stood at 4,836 units compared to 3,917 units in the same month last year, up 23.5 per cent. Hyundai’s overall sales, including exports, were up 45.3 per cent at 40,182 units during June compared to 27,653 units in the same month a year ago, said a company statement. Its exports for the month rose to 18,301 units, against 11,318 units during the same month of the previous year. HMIL sold 33,859 units of hatchbacks Santro, Getz and i10, 6,272 units of Accent and Verna, 47 units of Sonata Embera and four units of its SUV Tucson in June. “At a time when the industry is already under tremendous pressure because of higher interest rates, rise in fuel costs and rising inflation, it is indeed heartening to see that Hyundai products continue to be an affordable and attractive buy for most car buyers,’’ the company’s vice- president Arvind Saxena said.

The company’s i10 has done well and it has sold over 1,00,000 units in less than six months since its launch, he added. Mahindra &Mahindra said its domestic sales in June went up by 8.17 per cent to 18,179 units, against 16,805 units it sold in the same month last year. Its total sales, including exports, grew 8.78 per cent to 19,371 vehicles, compared to 17,807 units in the corresponding period last year, the company said in a statement.

Hyundai too raising car prices as input costs mount

HYUNDAI Motor India Ltd ( HMIL), the Indian arm of the Korean automobile maker, on Wednesday said it would raise the prices of its products by up to two per cent from the first week of June.



“There has been an increase in the input costs and we have been absorbing it for a while. The situation now is such that we have to pass some parts of it to the consumers,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd senior vice president marketing and sales Arvind Saxena said. He said the company will hike the prices of its various models by up to two per cent. “The price increase will come into effect from the first week of June,” he added.

Hyundai currently sells hatchback models Santro, i10, Getz along with sedans Accent, Verna, Sonata Embera in the country. The companys move to hike prices follows rival Maruti Suzuki India Ltd ( MSIL), which last week hiked prices across various models by between Rs 1,000 and Rs 18,000.

Maruti had hiked the prices of all its petrol variants — the hatchback Swift, sedan SX4 and the Gypsy — by Rs 9,000, while the price of the diesel version of Swift was raised by Rs 15,000. It had also increased the price of all variants of Zen Estilo and WagonR LPG by Rs 1,000 and of Alto and M800 by Rs 1,500.

Prices of all variants of Omni and WagonR Petrol were hiked by Rs 2,000 and that of multi- utility vehicle (MUV) Versa by Rs 8,000. Earlier, in January, Hyundai Motor India had raised the prices of all its models by between two to three per cent.