According to a senior company official, the updated mid-size sport utility vehicle (SUV), which debuted last month, is expected to further boost the brand’s popularity in India, where the Creta has made Hyundai a household name.Since its 2015 launch, the Creta has recorded wholesale sales in the domestic market of about one million units. The car got a mid-life update in January 2024, despite being sold in its second-generation avatar at the moment.
Hyundai current models
Presently, Hyundai offers 13 models: Venue, Venue N-Line, Aura, Verna, Exter, Grand i10 Nios, Creta, Alcazar, Tucson, Kona Electric, and Ioniq 5. With 602,111 units sold in a calendar year (CY) in 2023, the company recorded its highest-ever domestic volume.
The significance of the Creta for Hyundai can be determined by the fact that, in 2023, the SUV alone accounted for 26.1% of the carmaker’s annual domestic volume, with record wholesales of 157,311 units. In 2023, there were 513,157 units in the mid-size SUV segment, of which the Creta held a noteworthy share of 30.7%.
Tarun Garg, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Hyundai, stated in an interview with India Today: “The Creta is very significant. In India, it has elevated Hyundai to a household brand. It represents a youthful and aspirational India. For us, it is a huge volume churner. The Creta have performed better than ever in every generation.”
“The Creta brand has grown to become cult. As you can see, SUVs used to make up 14% of the market when the Creta was introduced in 2015. SUVs now make up 49% of the total, and the Creta has been instrumental in that as well,” he continued.
Rivals of Creta
The Hyundai Creta competes with the Kia Seltos, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder, Honda Elevate, Skoda Kushaq, Volkswagen Taigun, and MG Astor in the fiercely competitive mid-size SUV market. This year, the Tata Curvv will present another adversary.According to Garg, there will be two significant mid-size SUV launches in the second half of 2022, despite the growing competition. He was speaking of the September 2022 launches of the Grand Vitara and the Urban Cruiser Hyryder.
“Despite those two launches, the Creta’s performance in 2023 showed an increase of 11.6% over 2022. In 2022, we sold 140,895 Creta units, and in 2023, 157,311 units. In spite of competition, the Creta has remained the best and has continued to expand. More models increase the segment’s growth and excitement. We have every confidence that the new Creta will enable us to continue raising the volume well beyond 2023,” he said.
The ex-showroom price range for the new Creta is Rs 10,99,900 to Rs 20,14,900. It comes with four gearbox options: 6-speed manual, 6-speed automatic with DCT, and 6-speed automatic with AT. The engine options are 1.5-liter MPi petrol (115PS and 144Nm), 1.5-liter Kappa Turbo GDi petrol (160PS and 253Nm), and 1.5-liter U2 CRDi diesel (116PS and 250Nm).
Hyundai vs Tata
Hyundai outsold Tata by 51,273 units in terms of domestic passenger vehicle (PV) volume in 2023. Tata also set a record with 550,838 units sold in the same year.Regarding Tata’s challenge, Garg responded as follows: “Hyundai has been a part of India’s landscape for 27 years. Among the top three high-volume players, our growth remained the highest even in 2023. We outgrew the industry and increased our market share.”
In 2023, the domestic PV volume in the industry passed the important 4,000,000 units mark for the first time, thanks to strong demand and improvements in the supply chain. From 3,792,000 units in 2022 to 4,108,000 units in 2023, the wholesales increased by 8.33%. With 1,707,668 units, Maruti led the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) followed by Hyundai and Tata.Garg also mentioned how much localization goes into Hyundai vehicles, mentioning that 90% of the new Creta has been localised.
Today, we have a very solid local vendor base under our belt. Our goal is to improve localization and we are constantly trying. We are adamant about our belief in localization because it reduces risk. Since the day we arrived in India, exports have been a top priority for us because we firmly believe in making things in India. Moving forward, we’ll stick to the same plan,” he declared.In 2023, Hyundai exported a record 163,675 units. Nearly 90 nations in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Australia, and Asia Pacific receive its car exports.
Garg stated that Hyundai has taken a top-to-bottom approach to its electric vehicle (EV) plans, which will enable the company to better understand the market and allow for localization.The automaker currently offers the Kona Electric and Ioniq 5 as its two EV models. The Ioniq 5 costs Rs 46,05,000 (ex-showroom), whereas the Kona Electric costs Rs 23.84 lakh (ex-showroom). It is anticipated that the next vehicle to join the electric lineup will be a Creta-based EV.
“We have previously declared that battery packs will be localised. This will enable us to reduce prices and introduce an increasing number of cars at reduced prices, potentially leading to larger sales in the future. Therefore, I believe it to be ideal because we now have a much better understanding of the EV market,” Garg said.
Another states
Hyundai and the Tamil Nadu government inked an agreement in 2023 for Hyundai to invest Rs 20,000 crore in the state over the following ten years for the purpose of developing new electric vehicles (EVs), expanding the Sriperumbudur plant’s capacity, building a facility to assemble battery packs with an annual capacity of 178,000 units, and installing 100 EV charging stations.
