
Hyundai Motors India (HMIL), the second largest passenger car maker, is expecting to double its sales numbers as it introduces a new generation of its popular sedan Verna. Launched at a starting ex-showroom price of Rs 10.99 lakh, the new Verna has been specially built with crucial insights gathered from Indian customers and is targeted primarily towards consumers aged less than 30 years, senior executives said.
“With this 6th generation Verna, I am confident that our Verna sales will double in a year. Its exterior design, internal comfort and space, the brand and its engine performance are key purchasing factors,” Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer, HMIL said during an interaction. “When we were developing the new Verna we wanted it to be more spacious, stylish and with a stronger powertrain. These were the demands of the segment buyers (as per our assessments).”
To back it up, HMIL has come up with a 1,497cc engine that delivers 143.8 Nm torque that goes up to 253 Nm in its turbo variant. To deliver such power, Hyundai is using its Alcazar engine. Keeping the younger consumers in mind, the designers have bet on a futuristic design with 16-inch diamond cut alloy wheels, Z-shaped character lines and parametric connected LED tail lamps that are first in the segment.
According to Garg, HMIL’s consumer study reveals that nearly 41 per cent of the Verna customers are less than 30 years old, compared to 20 per cent for its top selling SUV Creta. “We have already received 8,000 pre-launch bookings for Verna, out of which 25-30 per cent have opting for the turbo variant,” he said.
Introduced in 2006, HMIL has sold some 460,000 Verna cars over its previous five generations. While, it has noticed an increased interest from the younger buyers (less than 30 years old) of late, Verna has remained a preferred choice of younger car buyers earlier as well. Nearly 26 per cent of its Verna buyers are first-time car buyers, compared to 24 per cent for Creta. Additionally, the renewed surge in sales of sedans in India - from 296,000 units (9.5 per cent of the overall passenger 4-wheeler market) in 2021 to 412,000 units (10.8 per cent of the overall market) in 2022 - has also motivated HMIL to push for a greater share in the segment.
As a result, Garg said, he draws confidence in predicting that HMIL would be able to sell 38,000 Verna cars over the next one year, compared to 19,000 units that it sold in 2022.
Also read: Cisco invests in new data centre in Chennai for cloud-delivered security
Also read: 90% of organisations globally cannot detect, contain and resolve cyber threats within the first hour