Official: Hyundai Santro Still Alive!
Its been a while that we've been hearing about Santro's departure from India, but in contradiction to all those rumors, Hyundai India today has officially confirmed the existence of Santro in the their current product portfolio. In an exclusive conversation with us, BS Seo, MD and CEO, Hyundai India, quoted 'Santro is a part of our portfolio and is available at all dealerships for sale' as of now. Though, he mentioned that the car is suffering from decrease in demand, courtesy stiff competition and these discontinuation rumors up to a certain extent as well.
“Santro is one of the strong brands in Hyundai Motor India’s portfolio. It has sold over 13.6 lakh units in domestic and over 5.35 lakh units in the overseas market with monthly average sales of 2,900 units in the domestic market. Santro is one of the strong preferences for first time buyers in the entry-level segment. We affirm Santro is a part of our portfolio of 10 brands and is available at all dealerships for sale and has strong fan following. Hyundai offers many preferred options through Eon, i10 and Santro to the first time buyers along with Grand. All these models constitute 63% of the overall HMIL volumes and has 21% market share in the compact passenger car segment. HMIL will continue to strengthen its product portfolio to be a strong performer in the segment,” he said.
Since its inception in 1998, Santro has always been a fore-front player for the Korean manufacturer in the country. Till date, the hatchback has only received a single major refreshment in 2003, when it got a new suffix with its name- Xing and a 62 bhp-1.1-litre, 4-cylinder petrol mill. The company is presently operating at nearly 90 percent capacity, standing at 6,80,000 a year, in which Santro occupies just five percent of the total manufacturing capacity in plant.
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