Due to the ongoing recession in Europe and the U.S, Hyundai India is not quite positive about its export market this fiscal. A new marketing strategy has been put in place by the second largest exporter of passenger cars in order to cut deep into the rural markets. The car maker has exported a total of 2.42 lacs cars in the last fiscal.
Arvind Saxena, Hyundai India’s board member and Director, Marketing and Sales, said, “We plan to export less this fiscal though we can't right now say how much less it will be.”
Among all passenger car makers, Hyundai enjoys a 19.1 per cent market share with its sales of 6.15 lacs units during last year. According to Saxena, there is no need for a third manufacturing plant as the existing two plants operating from Chennai can produce up to 6.7 lacs cars annually.
Saxena also said that the company is focussing on exploring the new emerging rural markets of India. In order to determine potential markets, the car maker had asked its network of dealers in major cities to identify five markets in rural areas where it can sell its vehicles. The car maker than grouped the five places into three major zones namely, stage one, stage two and stage three.
In those towns where company hoped to sell two to three cars on a monthly basis, a consultant was posted by Hyundai. For the towns with a potential of selling five or six cars every month, the company set up a 15,000 sq ft showroom with a team of two members. Towns where company expected to sell more than 5-6 cars, a 15,000 sq ft showroom with a bigger team than 2 members and a service centre was setup
According to Saxena 1,000 such locations have been spotted by the company. Out of these locations, stage two and stage three comprises 170 locations. By the year end of 2012, the number is expected to double thereby promoting stage one and two to the next level as far as sales increases. Saxena said, “This will help us to create a larger footprint in the country.”
