Hyundai Motors plans R&D centre in Hyderabad

Hyundai Motors India (HMIL) is planning to come up with an R&D centre at Hyderabad to develop new cars for Indian and overseas markets. HMIL president Ashok Jha did not rule out the possibility of research on developing low-end models with a price range of Rs 1 to 2 lakh. The R&D center will come up at an investment of $40 million over 15 acres and will be operational in a year's time.

This apart, the new Hyundai i10 will be manufactured from the Chennai plant that will be scaled up to produce 3 lakh more cars per year at an investment of $528 million. Currently, the plant has a capacity to roll out 3 lakh cars. A new engine and transmission unit costing $263 million and with a capacity of 1 lakh units will come up at the Chennai plant.

While the car manufacturing facility will be operational by the end of this year, the engine unit will start operating by mid next year, company sources said.