Hyundai India's focus on safety helps it clock best-ever October sales of 55,128 units

With India’s passenger vehicle segment firing on all cylinders and well set to achieve a record 4-million-units-plus sales in FY2024, Hyundai Motor India, the longstanding No. 2 OEM after Maruti Suzuki, is also making the most of the wave of consumer demand.

The Chennai-based SUV and car manufacturer has reported domestic market wholesales of 55,128 units, up 15% YoY (October 2022: 48,000 units). This is a 1.63% month-on-month increase over September 2023’s 54,241 units and the third month in a row that sales have driven past the 53,000-unit mark.

Cumulative domestic market sales for the first seven months of FY2024 are 362,203 units, up 9% (April-October 2022: 333,006 units) and 64% of its record sales of 567,546 units in FY2023.

While the Creta, the best-selling midsize SUV in India, can be expected to be the one with the highest model sales. While demand for hatchbacks remains tepid, as it does for other carmakers, the recent launch of the Exter SUV, which has received over 75,000 bookings, has given a new charge to Hyundai.

Last month saw Hyundai up the quotient on the vehicle safety front. On October 3, the new Hyundai Verna sedan aced the Global NCAP crash test with a full 5-star safety rating to become first made-in-India Hyundai model with a 5-star rating from Global NCAP. The model tested was equipped with six airbags, ESC, rear ISOFIX mounts and seatbelt reminders for all seats as standard.

The same day saw Hyundai Motor India announce fitment of six airbags as standard in all its models and variants, and the company’s voluntary participation in Bharat NCAP starting with three models.  

Commenting on the October sales numbers, Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India, said: “The recent announcement of standardising of six airbags across all Hyundai models and variants has been extremely well received by our customers. Also, the supply situation is back to full normalcy and our network is geared up to delight customers with the delivery of their favourite Hyundai cars.”

STRONG ORDER BOOK OF 115,000 UNITS

Hyundai Motor India is sitting on a healthy orderbook of 115,000 units largely led by the new entry-level SUV, the Exter.

About 59% of Hyundai Motor India sales come from SUVs with an incremental contribution from the entry SUV, this is against an industry average of 48% share of SUVs. Even its most popular SUV Creta, continues to scale to a new peak, with the brand registering a growth of 16% in October.

At the end of October, Hyundai Motor India had a channel stock of about 22 days, which is adequate given the upcoming key festivities of Dhanteras and Diwali, said Garg.

Hyundai Motor India's COO says the sales in 2023 are better than the expectations and as against the guidance of 5-6% growth for 2023, the market is likely to grow by 7-8% in the current calendar year.

“An improved semiconductor supply and sustained demand will help the market to 4.1 million units, which is very healthy. This will be the highest ever sales by the industry in a year and we feel the market should grow in higher single digits, which is impressive, given the high base of the last year.,” said Garg.

The company is aiming for market outperformance this year. In a recent interaction with Autocar Professional, Tarun Garg had said that the company has outpaced the market with a growth of 9% this year and he sees all the key parameters of demand, production ramp, stock in the system to be favourable to deliver a strong festive season for the company.

"Our strong SUV portfolio has received a further boost with the exceptional customer response to the newly launched Hyundai Exter. SUVs now contribute to more than 65% of our domestic sales. The enduring love and admiration by Indian customers for Brand Hyundai is a reflection of the benchmark set by our products in terms of safety and feature integration,” said Garg in a statement.

From the calendar-year perspective, the company has sold 509,910 units in the January-October 2023 period, which is already 92% of its CY2022 total of 552,511 units. This means Hyundai is en route to scaling a new high this calendar year. Having launched new products like the next-generation Verna sedan and the Exter mini-SUV, the company is gunning for 600,000-unit sales this calendar year.