Hyundai Motor India aims to tap taxi hailing market

Kolkata: Car maker Hyundai Motor India (HMI) is looking at gaining market share in taxi hailing segment, which is dominated by its rival Maruti Suzuki.

"Operators like Uber, Ola and others are aggressively increasing its presence in the taxi hailing segment in India. We are looking at this segment to gain market share", HMI Executive Director Y J Ahn told reporters here Friday.

Ahn said Hyundai is offering its sedan XCent for the taxi hailing segment at present.

Hyundai would introduce a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in the country to complete its presence across the entire portfolio of passenger cars in the country.

"We will introduce an MPV in the Indian market to satisfy the needs of the consumers. It will take some time", Ahn said.

The second largest car maker in India, after Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai had stopped exporting cars from the country to Europe.

"Our plant in Turkey is meeting the needs of the European market. So, we have stopped exports to Europe from India", he said.

The volume vacated due to its was being diverted for sales in the domestic market, he added.

To a query, Ahn said that the company is looking closely at the growth of automobile industry in the country.

"We will closely watch the auto industry for four to five years. Then we will decide on expansion of capacity", he said.

At its two plants near Chennai, HMI's capacity was seven lakh cars per year.

"Capacity utilisation at the plants is 90 percent", Ahn said.

HMI exports from India to Africa, Middle East and Latin American countries.