NEW DELHI: Automobile major Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) on Monday reported a rise of 10 per cent in its total sales including exports for December.

According to HMIL, its total sales increased to 62,899 units from 57,164 units sold during December 2016.

The company’s domestic sales during the month under review increased to 40,158 units from an off-take of 40,057 reported in the corresponding month of 2016.

However, exports reported an exponential growth of 32.9 per cent with 22,741 units being shipped-out during December 2017 from 17,107 units sold abroad during the like period of 2016.

Further, the company reported that its domestic calendar year 2017 sales grew by 5.4 per cent to 527,320 from an off-take of 500,539 units off-take n 2016.

Commenting on 2017 performance, HMIL’s MD and CEO Y.K. Koo said: “The calendar year 2017 has been an year of performance for Hyundai Motor India surpassing its Business Plan of 2017 registering highest-ever domestic volume of 527,320 units, a growth of 5.4 per cent on strong performance of the newly launched super sedan Next Gen Verna along with Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta.”

“The positive momentum in urban and rural retail sales supported with strong after-sales service and low-cost of ownership has gained customer confidence to become most loved and trusted brand in India.

South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor India has exceeded its domestic volumes target for 2017 with sales of 5.2 lakh units, led by a strong demand for the newly launched Verna, a mid-sized sedan.

With the carmaker planning to launch anew entry-level car soon, it has set a target of crossing an output of 7 lakh units in 2018, with 5.5 lakh units for the domestic market, eyeing a growth of 5-6 per cent.

Rakesh Srivastava, director, sales & marketing at Hyundai Motor India, said despite just one launch (Verna) and a couple of facelifts, the company has been able to grow well.

“2017 was a year of excellence for Hyundai, wherein the company focused on delivering quality and optimum production capacity utilisation.

We aim to sustain our growth momentum in 2018, led by an all-new product entering a new segment, which will bring us incremental buyers,” said Srivastava.

What’s significant is that not only has the average price of vehicles sold by Hyundai risen in India, helping the bottom line, even exports for the coming year will be largely mid-sized cars such as the Verna and Creta as against the small cars exported out of India like Eon, Grand and i20, which will further boost its profitability.

Agencies