i10 bags 60,000 bookings from the overseas market

New Delhi, March 11, 2008: Hyundai Motor India the country’s second largest passenger car manufacturer and the largest exporter today achieved another milestone in its remarkable decade old journey in India. Hyundai Motor India had launched its latest compact car on 31st October, 2007 marking the global debut of the i10. Following the India launch the i10 debuted in Europe at the Bologna Motor Show, Italy in December, 2007 and displayed at the Geneva Motor Show in January 2008.

HMI started accepting export orders for the i10 from December, 2007 and received  60,000 orders from the overseas market creating a record of clocking the fastest 50,000 units of export orders in just three months. HMI will ship around 26,000 units by March, 2008.

The i10 which is manufactured only at the Chennai plant keeping with HMC’s stand of making India the hub for small cars will be exported to all the major markets across the globe covering over 90 countries by the end of the year. And in tune with Hyundai’s philosophy of providing the best sales service HMI has started a training programme to train the staff of all its overseas distributors.

Currently, a batch 31 sales Managers from the overseas markets covering about 21 countries from far flung Africa, Latin America, Europe to Asia will undergo a training programme in Chennai from 11th – 14th, March 2008 which will be held in HMI’s Chennai factory premises. This familiarization and understanding of the i10 and HMI as a company will help them to further establish the product in their respective markets. This is also a beginning of a trend which by itself is a first for the industry where overseas partners are trained in India.

Following the stupendous response in the domestic market both by the consumers and the media which conferred upon the i10 all the ‘ Car of the Year

2008’ awards making it the first car to win all the COTY awards including the coveted ‘ Indian Car of the Year’ from a jury comprising of the most respected automotive journalist in India – the i10 is truly on its way to becoming a true global car.
About HMIL

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea and is the second largest and the fastest growing car manufacturer in India. HMIL presently markets 34 variants of passenger cars across segments. The Santro in the B segment, Getz Prime, i10 in the B+ segment, the Accent and Verna in the C segment, the Elantra in the D segment, the Sonata Embera in the E segment and the Tucson in the SUV segment.

Hyundai Motor India, continuing its tradition of being the fastest growing passenger car manufacturer, registering total sales of 327,160 vehicles in the calendar year (CY) 2007, an increase of 9.2 percent over CY 2006. In the domestic market it clocked a growth of 7.6 percent as compared to 2006 with 200,412 units, while overseas sales grew by 11.8 percent, with exports of 126,748 units.

HMIL’s fully integrated state-of-the-art manufacturing plant near Chennai boast the most advanced production, quality and testing capabilities in the country. In continuation of its commitment to provide the Indian customer with global technology, HMIL is setting up its second plant, which will produce an additional 300,000 units per annum, raising HMIL’s total production capacity to 600,000 units per annum.
 
HMIL is investing to expand capacity in line with its positioning as HMC’s global export hub for compact cars. Apart from expansion of production capacity, HMIL plans to expand its dealer network, which will be increased from 230 to 300 this year.

The year 2007 has been a significant year for Hyundai Motor India. It achieved a significant milestone by rolling out the fastest 400,000th export car. Hyundai exports to over 73 countries globally; even as it plans to continue its thrust in existing export markets, it is gearing up to step up its foray into new markets. The year just ended also saw Hyundai Motor India attaining other milestones with the launch of the i10 and yet another path-breaking record in its young journey by rolling out the fastest 15,00,000th car.

The Hyundai Verna has bagged some of the most prestigious awards starting with the title of "Car of the Year 2007" by India's leading automotive publication – Overdrive, the “Best Mid-size Car of the Year” award by the NDTV Profit C&B Awards 2007, the “Best Value for Money Car” by the CNBC Autocar Auto awards and ‘Performance Car of the Year 2007’ from Business Standard Motoring.

Last Year Sonata Embera won the ‘Executive Car of The Year 2006’ award from Business Standard Motoring Magazine and NDTV Profit – Car & Bike declared the Tucson as the ‘SUV of The Year 2006’. HMIL has also been awarded the benchmark ISO 14001 certification for its sustainable environment management practices.

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