Made-in-India Hyundai Creta exports cross 200,000-unit milestone

The Hyundai Creta, which continues to make news in India, has notched a new milestone. Hyundai Motor India has announced that it has exported over 200,000 units of the popular midsized SUV since manufacturing of the model began in 2015. The second-generation model, launched in March 2020, is currently seeing strong demand and is also the best-selling utility vehicle in India.

As per Autocar Professional’s data analytics, the Creta’s best annual export performance came in FY2018 when a total of 50,820 units were despatched from Chennai Port.

CRETA EXPORTS
FY2016: 21,458 (est)
FY2017: 47,597
FY2018: 50,820
FY2019: 37,308
FY2020: 40,994
FY2021: 1,823 (April-August 2020)

With an export share of 26 percent (CY2019) in passenger car exports from India, Hyundai remains a significant contributor to the Indian automobile industry and the government’s Make in India initiative.  The carmaker exports nearly 800 customised variants according to country specific preference and demand. 

Commenting on the Creta's milestone, S S Kim, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor said, “Launched in 2015, the Creta established its supremacy as a highly aspirational brand among customers globally. The 200,000 export milestone achieved by the Creta is a testimony of Hyundai’s undeterred focus and commitment to ‘Make in India, Made for the world’.”

Hyundai regains No. 1 PV exporter crown from Ford in FY2020
With total shipments of 169,861 units (4.78% / FY2019: 162,105), Hyundai Motor India raced ahead with a comfortable lead of 38,002 units over Ford India, which despatched 131,476 units (-19.24%) to overseas markets. It may be recollected that Hyundai 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.

In FY2020, the Verna sedan led the export charge for Hyundai with total shipments of 60,065 units and accounting for 35% of the company's overall exports in FY2020. The growing demand for the made-in-India Vernas saw the sedan notch 49.12% year-on-year growth and stand out as the company's most exported car last fiscal, and India's second-best export model (after the Ford EcoSport). It is understood that the Verna is seeing robust demand from Middle East markets especially Saudi Arabia.

The other Hyundai export models that saw growth was the Creta-Venue SUV combine which with 47,601 units, saw YoY growth of 27.58% (FY2019: 37,308). Both SUVs have received a strong market response in Chile, Peru, Mexico, Tunisia and South Africa.

Meanwhile, the quartet of the Grand i10, Xcent, Elite i20 and Santro saw demand decline 24.67% to 62,195 units (FY2019: 82,568).

Earlier this year, Hyundai Motor India rolled out its three-millionth Made-in-India export car from its Sriperumbudur plant near Chennai, 20 years after it first started export operations. In CY2019, it exported 181,200 units with 792 customised variants according to country specific preference and demand. The company currently exports 10 models – Atos (Santro), Grand i10 (Nios), Aura, Elite i20, i20 Active, Accent (Verna), Venue and Creta – to 88 countries in 4 continents: Latin America (33 countries), Africa (28 countries), Asia Pacific (26 countries) and Europe.

Targeting higher exports
Hyundai Motor India exports to over 90 countries across Africa, Middle-East, Latin America, Australia and Asia Pacific. Clearly, its aggressive export strategy for shipping its made-in-India products is paying off. On September 24, 2019 it held an International Partner’s Meet 2019 in New Delhi where 60 of its global partners representing Hyundai from several countries including South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Vietnam, Chile, Peru and Columbia participated. Many new markets like Ethiopia, Zambia and Ghana were also explored for export of the Atos (Santro in India).