| "Dealers have a great influence over the ultimate choice that a consumer makes. And if dealers are ready to push a brand aggressively, it would make all the difference," said Pavan Bhargava, chief operating officer. Hyundai Electronics has 1,500 dealers across the country. |
| With cut-throat competition, margins for dealers in colour televisions could at times be as low as Rs 50 for many of the best-selling brands. |
| "There is a lot of disenchantment at the dealer level. Leading companies know that if their brands have enough consumer pull they can dictate margin rates," he added. |
| The huge premium for dealers means that Hyundai's products are 10-12 per cent costlier than its competitors. "We are looking at households with greater spending power and our products are positioned at the premium end," he said. |
| Hyundai Electronics, which began its operations in India in September last year, had recorded sales of Rs 100 crore at the end of the last fiscal year. This year the company is targeting a turnover of Rs 600 crore. |
| The company is also putting up a manufacturing plant near Dehradun in Uttaranchal at an investment of Rs 100 crore. The plant is expected to be operational by September this year. Hyundai is, at present, using the manufacturing facilities of Videocon. |
| Bhargava, who was previously the head of Samsung India's home appliances business, said Hyundai was planning to be among the top three consumer electronics companies by 2010. |
| In a year, it is targeting a market share of 7 per cent in the Rs 4,000 crore flat CTVs market, and a 10 per cent share of the DVD player market. Globally, consumer electronics contributes nearly $4 billion to the $37 billion Korean automobile and trading giant Hyundai. |
| At present Hyundai has CTVs, airconditioners and DVD players in India and plans to launch refrigerators and microwave ovens during the Diwali season this year. |
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