Boost for Hyundai Motor export plans, as auto co plans to launch slew of EVs over next 4 years

New Delhi: The planned ₹25,000 crore ($3 billion) IPO by Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) will drive parent Hyundai Motor's ambitious strategy to make India a key export hub to expand its global business, besides seeking gains in the domestic market, said senior industry executives with knowledge of the matter.

As part of this, the company plans to introduce nearly half a dozen electric vehicles over the next four years for local sales and exports, as more assembly lines come on stream in India.

"Hyundai has been constrained by capacity the last couple of years," said one of the persons cited. "The company has already enhanced capacity at its manufacturing plant in Chennai to 820,000 units per annum to meet domestic demand. With fresh capacity coming in from Talegaon in 2025, Hyundai is looking at ramping up exports from India which have been received well in markets in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa." HMIL's revenue from exports rose 83% to ₹14,120.92 crore in the last three years, despite geopolitical uncertainties. Revenue from operations in the local market rose 39% to ₹33,274.83 in the same period. As much as 23.4% of the company's total revenue came from the sale of vehicles and parts overseas in FY23. In volume terms, exports accounted for about 21% of total vehicle sales in that fiscal year.


Some of the money raised will likely be used to enhance capacity to over 1 million units across its facilities in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and develop new products, including affordable electric vehicles over the next decade.

Competition with Maruti Suzuki
HMIL has said it plans to invest ₹32,000 crore in the two states. The first electric car from Hyundai manufactured in India, possibly a version of the best-selling Creta SUV, is set to hit roads next year.

HMIL didn't respond to queries.

India is a very important market for Hyundai Motor Co, HMIL managing director and CEO Un Soo Kim had said earlier this year when it had acquired the Talegaon plant, which formerly belonged to General Motors.

"As we look forward to the next decade of progress for Hyundai Motor India, it is critical for us to augment our manufacturing capacity in India," he had said.

"The Talegaon manufacturing plant will play the role of a catalyst in achieving HMIL's 1 million annual production capacity milestone. The acquisition of Talegaon plant reinforces our commitment to Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), by making India a hub for advanced smart mobility solutions, Make-In-India for the world."

The planned expansion will help the South Korean automaker compete with market leader Maruti Suzuki, which is investing about $5 billion to double production capacity to 4 million units per year by 2031.

Maruti Suzuki too is set to introduce a locally manufactured electric vehicle next fiscal, with five more EVs scheduled for launch by 2030. The company also plans to triple exports from India to 750,000-800,00 units per year by FY31. This will include shipments of electric cars from India to advanced markets in Europe and to its home market of Japan from 2025. Overall, 663,000 cars were exported from the country in the last financial year. Vehicle exports were dominated by Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, which together accounted for two-thirds of all cars shipped out of the country.

Share of homegrown cos
Homegrown automobile manufacturers like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra had a modest share of 0.4% and 2%, respectively, as per industry data. Kia, Volkswagen and Nissan feature among the top five carmakers exporting from India with a share of 9%, 7% and 6%, in that order.