Hyundai Motor Company nears 10 million vehicle sales in India... SUV bet pays off

[Financial News] Hyundai Motor Company is on the verge of surpassing 10 million cumulative sales in the Indian market. Twenty-eight years after entering the market in 1998 with the Santro, dubbed the “people's small car,” it needs to sell just 115,040 more vehicles to reach the milestone. Locally tailored SUVs such as the Creta and Exter have driven growth, and the company is building annual production capacity of 1 million vehicles as it develops India into a global export hub.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Hyundai Motor Company's cumulative sales in India from 1998 through this September totaled 9,884,960 vehicles. At the current sales pace, it is likely to surpass 10 million by the end of the year.
Hyundai Motor Company established its Indian subsidiary in 1996 and launched the Santro, its first locally manufactured vehicle, at its Chennai plant in 1998. The Santro, which emphasized a spacious interior and practicality, was a hit, helping the company reach second place in local market share in its first year in the country. It later reached cumulative sales of 1 million in 2007 and 5 million in 2017, led by small cars such as the i10, i20 and Verna.
The growth driver shifted after the launch of the Creta, a locally targeted SUV, in 2015. The Creta featured an interior designed with large-family culture in mind, high ground clearance suited to poor road conditions, an in-cabin air purifier and other features. It ranked first in monthly local SUV sales for three consecutive months immediately after launch, and sold at least 40,000 units in its first year, earning it the 2016 Indian Car of the Year award.
Hyundai Motor Company went on to introduce the HB20 in 2019, the three-row SUV Alcazar in 2021, and the compact SUV Exter in 2023. The Exter sold more than 47,000 units within six months of its launch and was named the 2024 Indian Car of the Year. Last year, the company also introduced the Creta EV, its first electric vehicle manufactured locally, expanding into the EV market.
The expansion of its SUV lineup was reflected directly in sales figures. Annual sales topped 500,000 for the first time in 2016, and the company recorded its highest-ever market share, 17.4%, in 2020. Sales in 2024 reached a record 605,433 vehicles. Last year, SUV sales totaled 398,937, approaching 70% of overall sales. SUVs also accounted for 316,026 of the 471,724 vehicles sold from January through September this year.
Hyundai Motor Company plans to further strengthen its SUV-focused strategy. José Muñoz, the company's president and CEO, said at its 2026 CEO Investor Day that it aims to raise SUVs' share of sales in India to 80% by 2030. This year, it is also pursuing the launch of the new Bayon compact SUV. Local preorders for the Bayon opened last September.
The expansion of production capacity is also gathering pace. The addition of the Pune plant's annual capacity of 170,000 vehicles to the 824,000-unit capacity of the Chennai plants 1 and 2 has brought total capacity to around 1 million. The company plans to increase the Pune plant's capacity to 250,000 in 2028 and 320,000 in 2030, lifting India's overall production capacity to at least 1.1 million vehicles.
Hyundai Motor Company plans to raise the local-content ratio for parts to at least 90% by 2030 to strengthen cost competitiveness, and to increase the export share to as much as 30%. Its strategy is to use India not only as a domestic sales market but also as a global production and export hub.
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