So far, Hyundai has been on the triumphant path with its Santro yielding tremendous response so to become the flagship. But, the sale of Hyundai’s i10 (at an average of 12000units per month) has surpassed that of Santro- 7000 units a month- forcing the company to assign the status of flagship to i10. Hyundai launched Santro as its flagship model, two years ago, to counter Maruti Suzuki. But the Korean company sets various standards to attain flagship status and the strategy is to have multi-model and consolidate sales of both i10 and Santro, to boost the compact car segment and increase customer base, says the company’s VP for India.
The target for this year is the sale volume of 85000 units of Santro and 1.4 lakh units of i10. Though the company sources claim various factors for the popularity of i10, the real factors seem to be – style, competitive pricing and superior technology. Between the two, i10 is costlier but still its sale increases- ever since its launch two year ago, the average sale of i10 has been 12000 from 6500 units per month but the sale of Santro is on the decline – it was 12000 units a month in the year 2000 but now it is 7000 units a month. But with the arrival of Maruti Suzuki’s Alto to the market, the sale of Santro has started its decline; further loss has been due to, again Maruti’s Estilo, Wagon R and Tata Indica.
The trend in urban market is turned towards the contemporary styling and superior technology, wherein i10 has penetrated well. Hence Santro cannot penetrate this market rather finds solace in tier ii markets and semi urban segments. The company has an option to redefine Santro with smaller engine and reduced cost to match Alto- Santro is sold @Rs3.2lakh –Rs.3.6lakh; i10 costs Rs3.35 lakh – Rs5 lakh. I10 has the distinction in the export market as ‘launched in India car’ label.