Thursday, November 10, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
Hyundai Halts the Plan of Its Diesel Engine Unit
Hyundai Motors India Limited officially announced that for a time being the company has put a halt on its Rs 400 crore diesel engine manufacturing plant because of sagging demand from the market. The projected diesel engine plant of Hyundai will be build with an annual installed capacity of 1.5 lakh units.
A senior official of Hyundai Motors India Ltd (HMIL) expressed to reporters that the market is not buoyant at the moment and their diesel engine plant plans are on hold at the moment.
He further mentioned in his statement that the company will hold its plans for a medium term and have invested USD 2 billion in India (so far), we can only move forward and stay committed to the market.
The figures report that Hyundai India’s October sales dropped by 4.95 per cent to 33,001 units as against to 34,720 units in the corresponding month of 2010. Even exports numbers diminished by 12.42 per cent to 15,324 units during the same month from last year’s count of 17,497 units.
Last year in December, company’s Managing Director and CEO Han Woo Park shared his plans of establishing a diesel engine manufacturing plant in the country with an overall investment of Rs 400 crore. He also said that the project will take over three years to complete and the plant will be set up with an installed capacity of 1.5 lakh units yearly.
Mr. Park also added that the feasibility study for the diesel engine plant has been completed and the company will announce the location in the next few months.
The proposed diesel manufacturing plant will produce three engines of different capacities - 1.1 liter, 1.4 liter and 1.6 liter for the Indian auto market. Currently Hyundai imports the diesel engines from its home country Korea for Indian offerings such as sedan Verna and premium hatchback i20.
