Yesterday, Hyundai Motor India announced the sale of over one million made-in-India SUVs across domestic and export markets. Currently, the Korean carmaker's SUV lineup in India consists of the Venue sub-compact SUV, the Creta compact-SUV, the Tucson mid-size SUV and the Kona Electric SUV - some of which are also exported to markets abroad. In fact, Hyundai will soon be expanding its SUV lineup in India even further with the launch of the new Alcazar three-row mid size SUV, and that will complete the carmaker's SUV portfolio in India.
What is currently a complete portfolio across various sizes and segments once had very humble beginnings. Hyundai's SUV journey in India began with the Terracan in 2003, but that was positioned at the premium end of the market and didn't bring in much volumes. The Terracan then paved way for the Santa Fe and the first-generation Tucson, but even these continued to be positioned at the premium end of SUV segment. While the first-gen Tucson also failed to make it's mark in India, the Santa Fe tuned out to be fairly popular and was offered for quite some time and across a couple of generation.
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However, it was the Hyundai Creta, first launched in 2015, that really made Hyundai a name to reckon with in the SUV segment. The Hyundai Creta has been the brand's top-selling SUV in India, with a cumulative sales record of 5.9 lakh units in the domestic market and over 2.2 lakh units in the export market. Just like the first-generation model, the second-gen Creta - launched in March 2020 - continues to be the compact-SUV segment leader by quite a fair margin. In fact, it is primarily the Creta that has contributed to the 1 million sales figure.
Apart from the Creta, the Venue sub-compact SUV too has been a great success for Hyundai in India and abroad. It has consistently been among the top-selling models in its class. The company has already sold over 1.8 lakh units of the model in the domestic market. Launched in 2019, the Venue is the most affordable SUV in Hyundai's lineup and its affordability explains such high sales number in such a short period of time. It wasn't until the arrival of the Creta and the Venue that the company has been extremely active in the SUV segment.
Commenting on the landmark achievement, Tarun Garg, Director (Sales, Marketing & Service), Hyundai Motor India, said,
"We are extremely grateful for the love and trust our customers have presented in Hyundai branded SUVs. As frontrunners in the introduction of revolutionary technologies, we continue to establish new milestones and redefine benchmarks across segments. With over 1 Million cumulative SUV sales in domestic and export markets, we have reiterated the promise of Make-in-India over nearly two and a half decades of our presence in India. This achievement also epitomises our manufacturing excellence and the unconditional admiration for the Hyundai brand in India. Our journey towards SUV leadership was initiated by brands such as Tucson, Santa Fe and Terracan. Now we have witnessed exponential growth in the segment with the launch of contemporary brands like Creta and Venue that have quickly gone on to become well-established household names."
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