Hyundai India to roll out diesel-powered i20 on July 7, 2009

Byoyed by the overwhelming response of the petrol-driven Hyundai i20 in the domestic market, Hyundai India is going a step ahead by launching its diesel variant on 7th July, 2009.

Likely to be fitted with a 1.4L common-rail diesel engine, the new variant is likely to be around 15-20 per cent pricier than the petrol-powered super-hatch, but will offer better fuel economy and improved drivability mainly due to the diesel engine’s higher torque output compared to the petrol.

Unconfirmed media reports also suggest that with the introduction of i20 diesel, Hyundai will also launch the 1.4L petrol version, to be available with an automatic transmission. It is to be mentioned that in the international market, Hyundai already sells i20 with 1.4 lire and 1.6 litre diesel engines.

Bringing Hyundai i20 with 1.4 litre diesel engine will qualify the company for the small car excise norms. However, the official company spokesperson refuses to comment on the engine specifications and other details. Once launched it would be pitted against Ford Fusion, the diesel versions of Maruti Swift & Ritz, Skoda Fabia, Fiat Grande Punto et al.



In India, the Hyundai i20 has managed to buck the trend and is still driving up volumes for the company. Even though the company had priced the i20 at Rs. 4.79 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), its bookings have exceeded the company’s expectations, thus propelling the company to ramp up its production. Though it could not be official confirmed, but sources have revealed that Hyundai India has increased its output from 1,000 units/ month to roughly 1,500-2,000 units per month.

Hyundai, which already has a market share of slightly more than 20 per cent in the passenger cars segment in India, is looking at scaling it up its market share to over 25 per cent by 2012. And for that, it is firming up plans to roll out new products in India, in order to strengthen and expand its portfolio of cars here.

Maruti to launch Ritz on May 15

Maruti Suzuki on Saturday said it will be launching its premium compact car Ritz on May 15 in Delhi in straight competition with its other premium compact car Swift.

"Ritz will directly compete with Swift. In the past, when we have launched cars in the same segment, it has helped the market to grow," Maruti Suzuki's managing executive officer, I V Rao, told reporters here.

"With the launch of Ritz, our customers would have two cars to choose from in the same category," he said.

Ritz and Swift would compete with Fabia, Getz, UVA and i20. Swift has been estimated to have a market share of 75% in the compact car segment.

In the next couple of years, seven new cars are being planned to be launched in the compact car segment by various car makers.

Swift, launched four years ago, has been a successful product of Maruti. At present, Maruti sells about 10,000 Swifts a month, Rao said.

The company has put up a new assembly line for Ritz at its factory in Gurgaon.

Last year, Maruti launched Swift in the European market. It makes Swift at a plant in Hungary.

These cars are in great demand in India!

The passenger vehicle market may be slowing, but Maruti Suzuki's Swift Dzire sedan and Swift hatchback, Mahindra & Mahindra's utility vehicle Xylo and Hyundai's i20 have long waiting lists that have their manufacturers struggling to increase production.

Xylo, the multi-utility vehicle (base model is priced Rs 6.48 lakh (Rs 6,48,000) ex-showroom, Delhi) that was launched in January this year, has a waiting period of over two months.


Mahindra & Mahindra's xylo

Despite M&M raising prices by Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 about a month ago, sales have not been dented, say company executives.

The company had initially set a production target of 120 units a day; unprecedented demand has forced it to raise this to 130 to 135 units per day.

"The top-end variant is seeing the maximum surge in demand," said Pawan Goenka, president (automotive sector), M&M.


Mahindra & Mahindra's Scorpio

The Xylo has even eaten into the share of M&M's sports utility vehicle Scorpio and MUV Bolero. About a quarter of buyers who had planned to buy Scorpio or Bolero booked Xylo, said the company.

Maruti Suzuki's Dzire, the sedan version of the popular Swift hatchback that was launched in March last year, has a waiting period of three to four months for both versions (the diesel variant costs Rs 5.47 lakh (Rs 547,000) and petrol Rs 4.61 lakh (Rs 461,000), ex-showroom Delhi).


Maruti Suzuki's Dzire

"Initially, there were some constraints on availability of engines. Those are over and we are raising capacity.

But demand has also increased," said RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki.

He added, "It is difficult to say if we will have spare capacity to increase production further."

The company initially produced 3,000 Swift DZires a month but had to quickly scale up to 7,000 as demand grew. Bookings, however, crossed 10,000 vehicles a month.

"We have continuously scaled up production for Swift DZire but the demand is still far ahead. The car, which is promoted as a vehicle that meets all aspirational needs, will continue to see healthy growth in demand even in such a downturn," said Mayank Pareek, executive officer (sales and marketing), Maruti Suzuki.

About 65 per cent demand for Swift DZire is for the diesel variant.

Maruti's Swift hatchback has a waiting period of over three months in most markets, with the diesel variant being the most in demand.

Company executives said they were producing over 9,000 units a month but were booking about 11,000.

The petrol version costs Rs 3.99 lakh (Rs 399,000) and diesel Rs 4.67 lakh (Rs 467,000 ex-showroom, Delhi).

Hyundai had priced the i20 at a steep Rs 4.79 lakh (Rs 479,000, ex-showroom, Delhi) when it launched it in December last year and did not expect to sell more than 1,000 units a month.


Hyundai i20

Bookings however, have ranged from 2,000 to 2,200 cars every month.

"Initially we had a waiting list of 60 days but this has come down to 45 days after we increased production.

However, we had not anticipated this response for a car that was considered expensive in its category," said a company spokesperson.

Hyundai says that it has been able to increase production to around 1,500 a month -- which is around 7 per cent of monthly production -- by juggling the production of different models.

GM to introduce new, fuel-efficienct and bi-fuel cars in India

With the success of its two hatchbacks in the Indian market, General Motors India is set to come out with a third one by the end of the year.

Following the Chevrolet and Spark, the "new Chevrolet Mini will not be a competition to Tata Motors' Nano. We are not in the numbers game. It will be positioned above the Chevrolet U-VA. Pricing will be around that range," said Karl Slym, president and managing director of General Motors India.

Speaking at the launch event of the company's sports utility vehicle (SUV) the Chevrolet Captiva's automatic variant, being at Rs20.3 lakh.

Reports quoted company executives as saying that the Chevrolet Mini would be positioned against Hyundai's recently launched i20.

Initially GM had planned to import the car as a completely knocked down kit into India, though now reports said it would manufacture the vehicle at its Talegaon plant in Maharashtra. The car is expected to hit the market in both petrol and diesel options, and is presently reported to be undergoing the fine tuning process of mapping the product to suit Indian road conditions.

In the premium segment, the Chevrolet Cruz would make its début sometime around the middle of 2009, providing some competition to the likes of Honda's Accord and Toyota's Camry. GM said that a one-week planned shut down at its Halol plant in December 2008 was to allow it to outfit the assembly lines to manufacture the Chevrolet Cruz.

Starting this year, General Motors India will also start offering bi-fuel cars that run on CNG or LPG as well as petrol. In the US, the Captiva has a hydrogen fuel variant. Slym attributed the lack of infrastructure as the reason the company has not introduced thye hydrogen-fuel car here in India.

GM would launch an LPG-powered car sometime during the first half of the year, Slym said, while adding that it would be followed by other LPG vehicles.

GM India already has the its current sedan, the Chevrolet Optra, available in the CNG variant, and the company would look at a similar course of action for its entry level sedan, the Chevrolet Aveo.

Slym said that GM's strategy has been to first come out with "high fuel efficiency in all our vehicles". "Then we will be introducing vehicles powered by (alternative) fuels like CNG and LPG, besides having different power-trains and different displacements," reports quoted him as saying.

GM is reported to have sold around 65,000 units last year in the domestic market, growing by 10 per cent despite the two per cent drop in growth witnessed by the passenger vehicle industry in 2008.

Reports said that GM's domestic market share notched up a few points from 2.9 per cent in 2007 to 3.4 per cent in 2008. the company is planning to make India its hub for power trains for Asia Pacific, after the completion of the $200 million power train facility at Talegaon in 2010.

The new Hyundai i20

The new Hyundai i20 is all set to be launched at the Paris Motor Show in October. The new hatchback model is currently under production at the Chennai plant of Hyundai Motors India Ltd. Official pictures of the new Hyundai i20 are yet to be released. The production version of the new model from Hyundai i-series will be launched at the Paris Motor Show in October this year.

The new Hyundai i20 shall replace the Getz model in the European markets and the company hopes that it shall become the next best seller. Hyundai is also debuting the latest i20 blue concept which would reflect the advanced low emission concepts from the company.

Hyundai plans to become the largest car manufacturer in India and occupy larger market share. It has already made India as its global manufacturing and exports hub for its small cars. It has its plant located in Chennai and uses Chennai port for all its exports. It also plans to launch new models in India to expand its product portfolio in the country.

2008 Paris Auto Show: Hyundai Targets Ford Fiesta With New i20

Hyundai laid out its plans for the 2008 Paris Auto Show on Wednesday, including its centerpiece, the i20, which has such stalwarts as the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo and Opel Corsa in its crosshairs. The all-new i20, which will join the ranks of Europe's supermini segment, makes its world premiere on October 2 as the replacement for the Hyundai Getz.

Hyundai, while being stingy with details, noted that the five-door has a "longer wheelbase than the existing Getz and is both bigger inside and more dynamic in appearance." The new i20 was designed at Hyundai's European Design Center in Russelsheim, Germany. Exterior cues include a chrome-topped grille and teardrop-shaped headlights.

"The i20 was designed and engineered to meet European tastes and needs," said Kun Hee Ahn, Hyundai Motor Europe president, in a statement. "It was built on an entirely new platform, and much of the ride and handling development took place on European roads."

There are no plans to bring the i20 to the U.S. at the moment.

Hyundai also said it will introduce a low-emissions i20 i-blue concept, which is based on the i20 production model, at the 2008 Paris Auto Show. The concept version gets Hyundai's new 1.4-liter CRDi diesel engine which delivers 88 horsepower and generates 162 pound-feet of torque. The engine is mated to a six-speed manual transmission. Hyundai said the concept returns the equivalent of 45 miles per gallon.

Hyundai said it will also show off the Santa Fe gasoline-electric hybrid concept at the Paris auto show. The Korean automaker said this concept has a "new hybrid drive system which mates the current 2.4-liter [gasoline] engine to a six-speed automatic transmission and a 30kW electric motor powered by lithium-ion batteries." This concept returns the equivalent of 36 mpg.

Hyundai will also display its seven-passenger ix55 SUV at Paris. The ix55 is spun off the Hyundai Veracruz and is being shown in what is described as "production-ready form."