Following a visit of its foreign distributors to the Chennai plant on September 21, Hyundai has bagged new business from the Middle East where the sedan will be known as the next-gen Accent.
24 Oct 2017 | 5331 Views | By Autocar Pro News Desk
Hyundai Motor India, the country’s second largest car manufacturer, has bagged an initial export order from the Middle East for 10,501 units of the recently launched new Verna sedan. The car will be known as the next-gen Accent in the Middle East markets.
This, according to Hyundai, is the single largest order for the Verna and a big jump compared to the earlier generations of the Verna and Accent. The new Verna will also be exported to South Africa, other Gulf and Asian countries from early 2018.
The order follows the visit of the company’s 33 distributors from the Middle East (including Saudi Arabia, Oman and UAE) and other Asian countries (Vietnam, Philippines, Sri Lanka) to the Chennai-based production facility on September 21, 2017, where they were given a detailed plant tour, a presentation on the product, its quality parameters and the plant capabilities, along with a driving experience.
Commenting on the new export order, Y K Koo, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor India, said: “The new Verna has received an overwhelming response from domestic and export markets. We are very happy to receive such a large single export order within one month of showcasing the product to the distributors from overseas markets.”
Since its launch in the domestic market on August 22 this year, the new Verna has received over 18,600 bookings and more than 143,000 enquiries. These additional new orders will be shipped in December 2017, along with the delivery of 20,000 units by end-December 2017 in the domestic market at a special introductory price, as committed during the product launch, says Hyundai.
The new export order will give a boost to the company’s slowing exports. In the fiscal year till now (April-September 2017), Hyundai Motor India has exported a total of 70,525 units, down 19.40 percent, which puts it behind Maruti Suzuki India, which has shipped 82,347 units (+11.55%).