Hyundai Exter Bookings Cross 70,000 Mark; Company Ramps Up Production

Hyundai Motor India made a splash in the micro SUV segment with the launch of the Exter and just 3 months later, it announced that the bookings crossed the 50,000 mark. Well, now the number has soared to 70,000 and clearly, the demand for the car is increasing. Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India, in an interview with Acko Drive confirmed this number and said that the big features list is adding to the growth of demand. He said, “I think we are very pleased with the response for the Exter and we have now received around 70,000 bookings already and please understand now there is no pent up demand if you see last 2 years it was all about pent up demand, so many new model for receiving great response but now in H2 (of 2023) when things have kind of moderated and this is a great response and we are very happy because 6 airbags come as standard, sunroof, dashcam and other features are also part of the package and that has really caught up with customers.”

Also Read: Hyundai Exter Review

According to Garg 75% of the bookings have come in for the top-end variant which has features like the sunroof and even the dashcam. But how is the company planning to keep up with the demand as far as production goes? Garg said, “So many customers are waiting for the car especially in the festival season and hence ramping up production is the only choice for us. We started with the production of about 6000 units and we moved to 7000 in September and we are already moving to 8000, so we are really ramping up production fast.”

This of course is a global product, and Hyundai, eventually, will export the Exter from the country as well but having a strong demand from the domestic market truly helps because it sets the tone for the company’s growing SUV portfolio. Garg said that thanks to the Exter, the contribution of SUVs to Hyundai India’s overall sales has taken a jump.

Garg said, “Since the launch of the Exter, the contribution of SUVs in our overall growth has increased to 64%. It was 54% in H1 and its already 64% in H2 so very clearly, the Exter has really given a good fillip to our momentum.”