One in four Hyundais sold is a Creta: Hyundai India COO

Hyundai brought out the Creta facelift with introductory prices ranging between Rs 11.00 lakh-20 lakh, ex-showroom. At the timne of launch, the updated Creta had received 25,000 bookings: 55 percent for petrol and 45 percent for diesel, and the company had said that automatic gearbox variants comprise 40 percent of the orders received.

1. Automatics comprise 40 percent of the Creta facelift's bookings
2. 40 percent of Cretas sold last year were diesels
3. Carmaker expects SUVs to contribute 65 percent of its volumes in 2024

While its eight-model SUV portfolio contributed to a total of 60 percent of the Korean carmaker's India volumes in 2023, Hyundai aims to grow it to 65 percent this year. The Creta is nearing the 1 million milestone sales mark, since its introduction in July 2015, and Hyundai anticipates strong demand from the facelifted version as well.

Creta contributed 44 percent of SUV volumes in 2023

The Creta contributed to over 26 percent of Hyundai Motor India's sales in 2023, and formed 44 percent of the company's combined SUV volumes last year. The midsize SUV's volume contribution to Hyundai's overall domestic sales was pegged at 25.5 percent in 2022, and over 24 percent in 2021.

"Therefore, the Creta's contribution to our volumes is growing every year, and with every refreshed version of the SUV," said Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai India. "It is a very strong product forming more than a fourth of our volumes last year."

The new Creta has been given a thorough refresh after three years, and Garg said, "The customer of today is much more aspirational and functional, and at the same time, is younger and impatient with decreasing attention spans. Therefore to make him or her stay interested in the brand, it is important to bring a thorough product refresh at the right time."

While the first-gen Creta went home to around 40,000 buyers in the first six months since launch, it crossed the 1,00,000 sales milestone in August 2016. After the introduction of the second-generation Creta in March 2020, the 6,00,000 mark was realised in April 2021.

'The case for hybrids is not strong'

While petrol contributed to 60 percent of the Creta's sales in 2023, diesel sales was pegged at 40 percent. With the reintroduction of the turbo-petrol engine in the refreshed Creta (the 1.4-litre turbo-petrol was discontinued last year), the company estimates that will take some volumes off the diesel powertrain, which is likely to settle around 35 percent in 2024.

While Hyundai's competitors – Toyota and Maruti Suzuki – offer hybrid powertrain options in their Hyryder and Grand Vitara midsize SUVs, the company says that its product strategy for each market depends on the tax regulations, government guidelines and local market situations.

"In the context of 5 percent GST on EVs, compared to 43 percent on hybrids, the case is much stronger for BEVs than hybrids in India. And that is why we are focusing on localisation of battery packs, which will allow us to introduce more all-electric products in the future," said Garg.

"Therefore, the case for hybrids is not strong; in future, if we see there is merit, we would consider hybrids as we have the technology available globally. Ultimately, it is about consumer demand, and we would rather put our energy where there is a clear policy roadmap," he added.

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