Many may flock for Hyundai’s budget car

Many manufacturers are working on budget electric vehicles (EVs) with Hyundai also jumping into the fray and this could see many flocking for these vehicles, if they are priced around the Rs 5-lakh (Rs-500,000) mark.

However, for micro EVs, the scope may not be good enough in a country like India as the chaotic traffic in cities would deter their presence.

Hyundai Motors most affordable
EV -- Source: Motor1.com 

Car makers will have to think of cars like the existing Maruti WagonR or Swift, or for that matter, the Hyundai Grand NIOS, while coming up with EVs.

Even as some manufacturers are bringing their models that were available internationally, others are developing new vehicles for India.

In fact, Hyundai is planning to launch a whopping six new EVs in India by 2028 and will pump in Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) for the purpose.

According to a report, Hyundai has already started working on an affordable and small EV for India.

The South Korean manufacturer is testing the waters and plans to bring in more premium models to India in the future.

Tarun Garg, director of sales, marketing and service at Hyundai India, said, “We have to opt for as much localisation as possible.”

Garg, however, has not shared a timeline on when the small electric car would be launched.

This will let the carmaker keep costs of the EV low and could help it gain pricing advantage over rivals, who are also planning a slew of such cars.

Hyundai is also working on issues related to charging, sales network and manufacturing in a bid to beef up its entire EV ecosystem in India.

This big investment initiative of Rs 4,000-crore has been taken by Hyundai in a bid to promote the electric vehicle culture in the country. According to the company, it also wishes to do its bit in controlling pollution globally.

Currently, EVs are around 1 per cent of the total vehicle sales in the country. The Union government is ambitious and plans to scale this up to 30 per cent by 2030.

According to Garg, compared to the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, Hyundai will adopt a different approach for EVs. It hopes to launch premium EVs first and will gradually come down the pricing ladder.

This may not be a great strategy and will delay its bid for grabbing volume customers in the EV space. It should come out with at least two low-to-medium priced cars simultaneously with its premium offerings. And it must do so, at the earliest.

Right now, it is planning to roll out the Ioniq 5 (in India), which costs over Rs 28 lakh (Rs 2.8 million) in the US, even though it is cheaper than its sister company Kia’s electric car, the EV6 (which will also come to India this year).

In 2019, Hyundai had launched the Kona EV, but since the price was steep (Rs 23 lakh or Rs 2.3 million), the car saw a very feeble response from the Indian market.

So, to see many flocking for its cars, Hyundai, which plans to bring premium cars first, must also consider rolling out budget or small cars at the same time.