Hyundai India has commenced exports of the Hyundai Xcent and the Middle East is the first port of call. Hyundai would also introduce the car in Nepal, its distributor confirmed last month, but the company remained tight lipped on the other destinations it plans to ship the car to.
In the UAE, Hyundai has six models in its lineup - Genesis, Santa Fe, i30, Elantra Coupe, Veloster and i20 5-door. The smallest Hyundai vehicle sold in the Middle East is the i10, in Egypt, and Eon in Africa. The positioning of the Xcent would be in the lower B segment, above the i10, as in India.
Apart from LHD conversion and software changes to conform with vehicular regulations, there are no variants made exclusively for exports at the Chennai plant. The management's decision to export to other countries will be made in the next two months.
The Xcent was launched in India in early March. It measures 3,995 mm long, 1,660 mm wide and 1,520 mm tall with a wheelbase of 2,425 mm, complying to the sub-4m 'small car' rule that gives it tax benefits.
The petrol engined variants use the same 1.2-liter four-cylinder engine from the Grand i10 producing 83 PS @ 6,000 RPM and 11.6 kgm of torque @ 4,000 RPM, matched to a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic gearbox. Diesel variants are powered by the same 1.1-liter three-cylinder engine developing 72 PS @ 4,000 RPM and 18.4 kgm of torque @ 1,750 – 2,500 RPM, and are available only with a manual gearbox.
Hyundai exported 40% of the 633,000 cars produced at the Chennai plant last year.
