It seems like the slowdown in the industry continues to persist despite the marriage season and settling down of election related hustle and bustle. Sales numbers for the month of June 2019 have started trickling down and the picture is not what stakeholders of the industry will like.
Hyundai Motor India ltd., the country’s second largest passenger vehicle maker, has registered a Year-on-Year decline of 7.3% in the month of June 2019. The decline is sales comes despite the automaker launching the eagerly anticipated Hyundai Venue sub-4m compact crossover in the month of May. We will have to wait for a while before knowing how did the latest kid on the block fare against established rivals in its first full month of sales.
The Korean automaker managed to sell 42,007 units last month compared to 45,314 units in June 2018. Hyundai, the largest exporter of cars from India, managed to grow its overseas shipping in June by 9% to 16,800 units against 15,408 units during the same period last year. Hyundai’s Chennai facility caters to 91 export markets including Asia Pacific, Australia, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, etc.
Combining both domestic and export performances, Hyundai India finished June 2019 with a cumulative sales decline of 3.2% at 58,807 units. It has to be said, Hyundai fared better than several other OEMs, thanks to its brisk selling products like Hyundai i20, Creta, Verna and the new Venue.
Moving forward, Hyundai is in the advanced stages of developing the next generation version of its immensely popular premium hatchback, the i20. The automaker is also slated to launch its new Creta sometime next year.
Hyundai’s next launch in India is the Kona electric crossover. To be launched in the coming days, the pure electric vehicle will be more of a brand shaper than a volume puller. The company will use the product to gain a good understanding of the potential of pure electric cars in India. More electric vehicles from Hyundai’s stable are expected in the foreseeable future.
The upcoming BS-VI emission regulation warrants several cost intensive technical changes to both petrol and diesel powertrains. These changes would inevitably make passenger cars significantly more expensive than now. We are afraid that the industry slow down is here to stay for a while.
