 "Hyundai unveils XCent to take on Maruti DZire, Honda Amaze")
HMIL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer B S Seo said, “The Xcent is a world-class product developed for the Indian market...It symbolises Hyundai’s commitment to Indian customers by offering high standards of quality.” The car, based on the Grand i10 platform, will be launched next month and will be available in two engine options---petrol and diesel. It will also have an automatic-transmission option.
It is expected the model will be priced competitively.
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“With the Xcent, we are entering one of the fastest growing segments in the Indian car market. Last year, the compact sedan segment grew 39 per cent to about 24,000 units a month. We want to be a significant player in this segment,” said Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president (sales & marketing), HMIL. The sub-four metre XCent has localisation levels of about 90 per cent.
In the April-December 2013 period, 169,724 entry-level sedans were sold in India, a nine per cent increase compared to the 156,160 units sold in the year-ago period. During the same period, passenger vehicle sales declined 5.72 per cent.
Growth in the entry-level sedan segment has largely been driven by the introduction of sub-four metre sedans Amaze by Honda Cars India (launched in April 2013) and the Maruti Suzuki DZire. Honda has already clocked sales of 66,859 units of the Amaze; the model accounted for about 65 per cent of its overall volumes in the first 10 months of this financial year. During this period, Maruti Suzuki sold 162,095 units of the DZire, an increase of 23.6 per cent compared to the 131,177 units sold in the year-ago period.
The Xcent is Hyundai’s fourth offering in the sedan segment, after Elantra, Sonata and Verna. The new sedan will qualify for the excise duty incentive enjoyed by small cars in India and enable Hyundai to price the car aggressively in the Indian market. Any car with petrol engine capacity not exceeding 1,200 cc, or diesel engine capacity of up to 1,500 cc, and length less than four metres attracts excise duty of 12 per cent. The duty is higher for bigger vehicles.
The Xcent will sport Hyundai’s popular fluidic design, also seen in the case of Verna and Elantra. It will have rear AC vents, a first in the segment; rear parking camera and sensors; auto folding mirrors, etc.
Accent, Hyundai’s top-selling mid-sized sedan, has now been phased out of the Indian market. In 2012-13, sales of the Accent had slumped 66.8 per cent to a mere 2,931 units, at a time when overall volumes in the category grew 21 per cent to 226,502 units.
In September 2013, the Korean auto major launched the Grand i10. The company expects to record annual sales of about 200,000 units of the car, designed to challenge the dominance of the Maruti Suzuki Swift. With sales of 184,897 units in 2012-13, the Maruti Suzuki Swift was the second-largest selling passenger vehicle in India.
A compact sports utility vehicle and a multi-purpose vehicle from the Hyundai stable are slated for launch in India by 2015. The new products will be positioned in the fast-growing utility vehicle segment, which recorded a 52 per cent rise in sales at 553,660 units in 2012-13.
“Our main aim is to generate volumes by consolidating existing brands, evaluating the market for entry into newer segments with product interventions and strengthening our reach by increasing our sales and service network, especially in rural areas,” Srivastava said.