South Korean auto major Hyundai on Friday opened its global quality centre in India with an aim for its operations here to play a bigger role in new product development for domestic and international markets.
Named India Quality Centre (INQC), the centre is one of the five Hyundai quality centres worldwide after the US, Europe, China and the Middle East.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Managing Director and CEO Y K Koo said: "The making of India quality centre is our long-term strategy to benchmark quality products for India and global markets."
The centre has an objective to study market conditions in India and other Asia Pacific regions to develop new cars and adapt strategies for continuous product quality improvement, he added.
Koo further said that the key activity of the India quality centre would be to "contribute in new car development from pilot stage to create quality products with zero defect".
Besides, the centre will also be responsible for ensuring "top level safety quality" through proactive customer oriented management system and understanding feedback from them to eliminate potential risks, he added.
The India centre, located at Faridabad in Haryana, will also conduct durability study of existing models and benchmark parts and systems for constant improvement, Koo added.
The company also opened a training centre at the same facility. It will have its own body and paint training unit — the first time that the company has introduced such a feature at its skill training centres.
"The new service training centre will ensure overall skill development of the entire service profile of dealer manpower and we are confident of training more than 15,000 manpower in 2017 through our six training centres across India," Koo said.
HMIL also plans to open two new skill training centres at Guwahati and Ahmedabad by end of the year.
The company has already started tie-ups with ITIs in different states.
Manufacturing errors in Hyundai’s 2.0- and 2.4-litre “Theta” four-cylinder engines, which both companies use in their vehicles, could cause engine bearings to wear prematurely and lead to an engine stall. Photo: Reuters