New Santro completed its first month in India with 8,535 unit sales and helped Hyundai to grow 5 percent
Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) introduced the long-awaited new Santro on October 23 and in its first month the hatchback has lived up to its expectations. With 8,535 unit sales last month, the Santro has played its integral part in Hyundai achieving 5 percent YoY sales growth and increasing market share by 0.5 percent to a cumulative 18.5 percent compared to same period in 2017.
Priced from Rs. 3.89 lakh to Rs. 5.64 lakh (ex-showroom), the new Santro has confirmed to target about one third its segment share and exports will begin from next year to countries in Latin America, South Asia as well as South Africa. Hyundai wants to ship 25 percent of the total Santro’s production to international markets and is aiming to sell around 9,000 to 10,000 units per month in India.
Right before the Santro’s market entry, the official online bookings led to Hyundai garnering more than 23,500 pre-orders and it has substantially increased when dealers started taking initial tokens from customers for Rs. 11,100. The 2018 Santro rivals against the likes of Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Wagon R and Tata Tiago and is facing high demand.
Hyundai’s vast Sriperumbudur facility is already running at its full capacity and since the new hatchback has been sold out for the next three months, the waiting period subsequently goes up further by upto. Hyundai has made way for the additional volume of one lakh units and it will come in handy to meet the soaring demand.
Offered in a total of five variants, the new Hyundai Santro can be had in seven colour choices such as Diana Green, Typhoon Silver, Stardust Grey, Polar white, Marina blue, Fiery red, and Imperial beige. It is constructed on 63 percent high strength steel and offers segment first features like reversing camera and rear AC vents.
It is powered by a 1.1-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine developing 69 PS and 99 Nm torque and is connected to a five-speed manual transmission as standard while Hyundai’s first-ever five-speed ‘Smart Auto’ AMT is sold as optional with both having claimed mileage of 20.3 kmpl.
The less powerful CNG version produces 59 PS and 84 Nm and it is ARAI-certified to return 30.5 km/kg.