Chennai:Hyundai Motor India is planning to launch up to four new models in the next two years, including a compact SUV, to enhance its position in the market. The company, which is slated to introduce a new compact car later this year, is also mulling taking on Maruti Suzuki’s Dzire and Honda Cars India’s Amaze with a new sub-four metre sedan. ‘Compact SUV is a very lucrative segment India. I think we are a bit late but we are developing a compact SUV to be launched soon,’ Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Managing Director and CEO Bo Shin Seo said here. Company officials said the compact SUV is part of
HMIL’s strategy to launch up to four new models in the next two years.

When asked if the company planned to launch a sub-four metre sedan from the same platform as its upcoming compact car codenamed BA, Seo said :’That’s a different car.’He declined to share further details but sources said the entry level sedan could hit the market between 2014 and 2015. Dzire and Amaze qualify for the excise duty benefit, enjoyed by small cars in India. At present, any car with a petrol engine capacity under 1,200 cc or diesel engine under 1,500 cc, but length shorter than four metres, attracts an excise duty of 12 per cent.

Besides, HMIL is also studying the multi-purpose vehicles (MPV) segment, where Maruti has tasted success with Ertiga.
‘The MPV segment is also fast growing, we are definitely looking at it but our priority will be the compact SUV,’ Seo said.
On the upcoming compact car, he said apart the model will be positioned between the company’s i10 and premium hatchback i20. ‘Apart from the domestic market, we will be exporting it. We expect it to be our largest selling model,’ Seo said.

At present the i10 is HMIL’s top selling model and it clocked about 1.6 lakh units last year. When asked about the sales expectations for 2013, he said: ‘The market continues to be tough in India and this year we are looking at about 2-3 per cent growth in domestic volumes.’ In 2012, HMIL had sold around 3.8 lakh units in the domestic market and around 2.5 lakh units were exported. The company is the second-largest carmaker in India after Maruti Suzuki.

New Delhi: Hinduja flagship company Ashok Leyland today said it will launch the Avia range of trucks in India by July as it prepares to introduce a range of new products, hoping for a revival of market in the second half of the next fiscal year.

“We have a few new products lined up for this year. Our Avia range of truck will be launched by July this year,” Ashok Leyland managing director Vinod K Dasari told reporters on Tuesday. He said the Avia trucks will be rolled out from the company’s manufacturing plant at Pant Nagar in Uttarakhand.

In 2006, Ashok Leyland had acquired the Avia Truck Business Unit, a leading vehicle manufacturer in Europe, at an estimated cost of around $35 million.

On the other commercial vehicles lined up for launch this year, Mr Dasari said by July-October this year Ashok Leyland will launch a series of heavy commercial vehicles – tippers and tractor trailers – equipped with a “brand new cab”.

When asked about the market conditions, he said: “It continues to be down and the situation is likely to continue till the first half of the next fiscal year. It may pick up in the second half but it is too early to say anything now.”

In January, the company’s sales were down 25 per cent to 6,863 units as compared to 9,200 units in the same month last year. For the April-January period this fiscal year, its sales were down by 14 per cent to 62,955 units as against 72,821 units in the year-ago period.

The shares of the company ended trading at Rs. 23.05 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), down 0.43 per cent from its previous close.