Hyundai India steams ahead in exports in first nine months of FY2021

Hyundai Motor India, which wrested the No. 1 made-in-India passenger vehicle (PV) exporter title from Ford India in FY2020, is set to retain the title in FY2021. In FY2019, the Korean carmaker missed being India's top PV exporter in FY2019 by a whisker – of all 696 units! Ford India had first unseated Hyundai, the longstanding PV export leader in FY2018.

Now, after nine months of FY2021, Hyundai with 74,021 units (-49%), is firmly in the export leader’s seater, considerably ahead of No. 2 player Maruti Suzuki India which shipped a total of 59,821 units (-21%) and Ford India’s 39,775 units (-62%).

GM India, which runs an export-only operation at its Talegaon plant and has now shut shop, is at No. 4 with 28,619 units.

At fifth place in the export pecking order is a hard-charging Kia Motors India with 28,520 units (128%). Expect the Hyundai sibling, for whom made-in-India exports are an avowed mission, to maintain its export momentum in the months and years to come. With this number, Kia has already crossed its FY2020 total export tally of 21,461 units.

Volkswagen India retains its sixth position it had in FY2020 in the April-December 2020 period with 25,665 units (-45%), followed by Nissan Motors India with 17,785 units (-70%).

Total passenger vehicle exports in the first nine months of FY2021 are 291,173 units, down 46% year on year. Not surprising considering nearly all countries and key global market were impacted adversely by the Covid-19 pandemic.

From the preliminary data accessed by Autocar Professional, it can be gleaned that the Ford EcoSport is the most exported vehicle with 35,033 units shipped and accounting for 12% of total shipments from India. With Ford shutting down its Brazil operations with immediate effect, it is likely some of the demand for the SUV from South America could be re-routed to Ford India.

Top sellers in April-Dec 2020
Ford EcoSport: 35,033
Chevrolet Beat: 28,619
Hyundai Verna: 25,788
Kia Seltos: 25,366
Hyundai Creta: 15,994
Hyundai Sunny: 15,196

Opportunity for India
India Auto Inc’s overall PV exports are down by a sizeable 46% (291,173) in the first nine months of FY2021 but that’s the result of the entire global marketplace grinding to a halt in the first few months of the fiscal. It is only in the past two to three months that key markets have opened up and are seeing demand gradually returning.

From the Indian PV industry’s perspective, given that some countries’ manufacturing operations are still to come up to pre-Covid levels, the export opportunity is a good one. What’s more, shipping made-in-India cars also helps buffer the inclement domestic market.