Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) will decide on setting up a third plant only after three or four years, said a top official.

“We will manage with the current manufacturing facilities for the next three to four years,” said S.S. Kim, managing director and chief executive officer, HMIL. “Last year, we produced 6.95 lakh cars against our annual installed capacity of 7.65 lakh cars,” he said.

HMIL has two car manufacturing plants at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai that caters to domestic and export markets. During 2019, it exported over 1.80 lakh cars. It plans to hit the two-lakh mark this year.

Asserting that it might take two to three years for the automobile industry to reach the previous high, he said they would manage the situation by tweaking production and optimising products, among other things.

Agreeing that it would take at least two years to build a new plant, he said the automaker would take immediate measure to set up a new plant if it saw growth potential.

Asked about the market conditions for 2020, he said: “The growth in the first half for HMIL will be flat due to unfavourable economic conditions, safety norms and BS VI transition. We might see some growth in the second half.”

Denying that Kia motors was giving a tough fight, he said the market was too big and both the companies had adopted different sets of strategies.

On electric vehicles, he reiterated the company was building a mass market product which would be affordable. Besides, it was scouting for local partners to bring down the cost through localisation.

(The correspondent is in Greater Noida at the invitation of the company)