A little less than a decade back, when manufacturing cars in India and exporting them to advanced markets in Europe was unheard of, it was Hyundai that laid the foundation for the 'Make in India - Made for World' approach. The i10 in 2007 and the i20 in 2008 were made right here in Chennai for the whole world. In just 8 years since its launch, the South Korean manufacturer has crossed a sales milestone of 1,000,000 units for the 'Made-in-India' i20. That's quite a feat, given that a significant portion of that sales is from India, a market where premium hatchbacks were non-sellers just a few years back.
When it debuted in 2008, the i20 was supposed to be an export-oriented model for Hyundai Motor India with internal forecasts for domestic sales said to be a paltry 1000 units a month. As sales in India kept rising, at times as high as 6500 units, Hyundai had to rejig production to accommodate more domestic cars and less export cars. From 2008 to 2014, a total of 757,035 i20s rolled out of the company's plant in Chennai with an almost equal split between domestic sales and exports.
When the second-generation model was launched as the 'Elite i20' in India, Hyundai had smartly moved European production to its facility in Turkey, freeing up more capacity for domestic production. In less than 2 years, sales including the i20 Active has surpassed 260,075 units with just 23,757 of them exported. It just goes to show the amazing popularity that the Elite i20 enjoys in India despite tough competition from Maruti-Suzuki's big-selling Baleno.
With stylish looks, feature-packed interiors, option of a refined petrol or a powerful yet frugal diesel engine and superb quality, fit and finish, the Elite i20's dream run in India looks unstoppable at the moment. Though not catered to from India, the i20's prospects in Europe got a much-needed fillip of late, the i20's recent victory in the World Rally Championship (WRC) helping the cause.
Let more and more i20s roll out. Let the 'Made in India' flag fly higher!
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