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Hyundai launches Sonata sedan in India

India's second largest car-maker, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, launched its sedan, the Sonata, on Wednesday, pricing it attractively to take on competition in a newly created segment of larger mid-sized cars.

The sixth generation Sonata is powered by a 2.0-litre engine and is the third car in India's D-segment that comprises cars priced between Rs 1.1 and 2.0 million.

The basic version of the Sonata is priced at Rs 1.19 million ($25,232) in Delhi, lower than the Honda Accord at 1.495 million rupees and the Mercedes Benz C-class at 1.99 million.

"We should do (sales of about) 1,500 numbers in the current year to March 2002 and have a market share benchmark of 25 per cent in this segment," BVR Subbu, marketing director at Hyundai India, told a news conference.

Subbu said about 14,000 of the 70,000 buyers of mid-size C-segment cars were potential buyers of larger sedans but their actual numbers would fluctuate each year. Estimates of the D-segment by other car firms have varied from 4,000 to 7,000 cars a year.

Hyundai India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co, invested $30 million in new facilities to make the Sonata.

It launched its first car in India, the Santro, in October 1998, and also makes the mid-sized Accent model at its car plant near Madras in south India.

Subbu said the share of locally-made parts in the Sonata was "pushing 40 per cent" and would climb to 60 per cent in the next two years.

Several auto firms have planned launches of larger sedans since India allowed firms to import and sell cars after paying import duty under new trade rules announced in April.

The larger sedans expected to ride onto India's roads are the Mercedes Benz CLK, SLK and M class cars, Ford's new Mondeo, Opel's Vectra as well as Daewoo's Magnus, Nubira II and Lanos II models.

India's nearly 600,000-a-year car market comprises a high volume entry-level small car A-segment segment where cars retail at below Rs 300,000 and a slightly higher priced B-segment consisting of hatchbacks priced upto Rs 500,000.

The A and B segments account for nearly 86 per cent of sales. There is also a growing mid-size sedan C-segment with cars priced at between Rs 500,000 to a little over Rs 1 million.

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