Hyundai’s new Verna revives sedan biz

NEW DELHI: Hyundai Motor India on Tuesday unveiled a new version of Verna, in an attempt to reignite the demand for sedans. The Indian subsidiary of the Korean car major has priced the 6th generation vehicle that debuted in 2006 at Rs 10.90 lakh.

Unsoo Kim, MD-CEO, Hyundai Motor India, launching it here, said Verna has been one of its most iconic models globally.

Since the debut of the Chennai made car 17 years ago, 4.5 lakh units have been exported to global markets. The new Verna, available in petrol and turbo versions, is also the third model from the Hyundai stable to offer smart sense technology.

Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor, said the company is extremely upbeat about the performance as it has already received 8,000 bookings. Anticipating the volume to be twice that of total sales, the company is confident of selling more than 38,000 units of Verna in the next 12 months.

Noting that a slew of new launches of vehicles are on the anvil, Garg said “this is my fourth launch in three months.”

Later during an interaction, he said the capex for the new Verna is Rs 1,000 crore and 41 per cent of Verna owners are less than 30 years of age. In line with the aspirations of a new India, he said the customer spread is across the country and first time buyers comprised 26 per cent of its base.

In a market that has been seeing an uptick for SUVs, the launch of this new version is expected to boost the mid and large sized sedan segment. The Sriperumbudur plant near Chennai would see its capacity enhanced from 7.65 lakh to 8.20 lakh, Garg said, responding to a question.

The industry veteran also spoke about the macro economic situation, which needs to be evaluated from time to time, that could have a bearing on the company’s performance. The chip problem that had derailed the auto business is yet to be fully sorted out.

An upbeat Garg said the demand for cars has been on an upward trajectory given that 3.8 million cars have been sold last year in the domestic market. Hyundai itself is sitting with a backlog of 1.15 lakh vehicles.