Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) on July 10 rolled out micro-SUV Exter, with introductory prices ranging from Rs 5.99 lakh to Rs 9.31 lakh (ex-showroom), a fortnight after kicking off production at its Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu.
The Exter will be its first petrol-only SUV and be positioned below the Venue compact SUV. Initially codenamed Ai3, the new model will be based on Hyundai’s K1 platform, which also underpins the Grand i10 Nios, Santro (now discontinued), and Aura compact sedan. The company has invested Rs 950 crore in the development of the model.
About 11,000 units of the Exter have been booked since Hyundai opened bookings on May 8 and deliveries will commence shortly.
“We are confident that Hyundai Exter will exceed the expectations of our customers and reaffirm Hyundai’s position as India’s leading smart mobility solutions provider,” said Unsoo Kim, MD and CEO of HMIL. With Exter launch, the automaker has now become a full-range SUV manufacturer in the country," he said.
The specs
The Exter is powered by a 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol engine that generates 82 bhp of maximum power and 113 Nm of peak torque, mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox and AMT (automated manual transmission). A bi-fuel CNG variant, offered only in a manual transmission version, will also be available at a price tag of Rs 8.23 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
The South Korean carmaker claims an ARAI-tested mileage of 19.4kmpl for the manual variant, 19.2 kmpl for the AMT and 27.1km/kg for the CNG version. While the manual trims are priced between Rs 5.99 lakh and Rs 9.31 lakh, the automatic variant is tagged at Rs 7.96 lakh. (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Hyundai India revealed that the Exter comes with a boot space of 391 litres, ground clearance of 185 mm, dash cam with dual cameras, electric sunroof and six airbags as standard. In the top-end variant, the model will feature 60+ connected features via Hyundai Bluelink, making it the segment’s most connected SUV, according to the company.
There are only a handful of companies in the small SUV segment in India. While Tata Motors sells the Punch (Rs 5,99,900-8,91,900), Renault offers the Kiger (Rs 6,49,990-11,22,990) and Nissan retails the Magnite (Rs 5,99,990- 10,24,900). All prices are ex-showroom Delhi.
Sales outlook
Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer, HMIL, noted that the Exter would help in bringing additional volumes to the company while strengthening its overall SUV portfolio. In his view, the sales in the entry-level SUV segment could touch 20,000-22,000 units per month.
"Exter is the eighth SUV model in our product portfolio. With this, now we are the only company to offer products in the six SUV sub-segments," he said, adding that SUVs account for 46 percent of the overall passenger vehicle sales in the country.
In the SUV segment, the automaker already sells models including Venue, Creta, Alcazar, Tucson, Kona Electric and Ioniq 5.
“For Hyundai, the contribution of SUVs in its overall sales has gone up to 54 percent currently from 34 percent in 2019. We have also achieved leadership in three segments where we have Verna, Creta and Tucson," Garg said.
The Hyundai Exter is equipped with six airbags as standard across all trims and offers 26 safety features across all variants and as an option on entry trims, the company had earlier said.
"Exter will bring in so many more new customers for Hyundai and the entire segment benchmark will go up," Garg added.
On sales outlook for the rest of the fiscal, Garg stated that things are looking good with the semiconductor crisis abating. “We have grown by 10.5 percent in the first half of this year. So I think things are looking good. And this was without Exter... now a good volume model is coming, so things should be good going forward," Garg said.
Hyundai sold 2.96 lakh units in January-June this year as compared to 2.67 lakh units in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Hyundai India reaffirmed it is looking to enhance its annual production capacity to 8.5 lakh units per annum from 8.2 lakh units currently at its existing facility.
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