Not Looking At Bringing Hybrids To India Yet: Hyundai India

Hyundai India has had a great 2023, with sales crossing the 6 lakh mark annually. This was the company’s highest-ever sales in the country and 60 per cent of this came from SUVs. Well, now that most of the portfolio too is SUVs, we are not surprised by this number. The Exter, Venue, Creta, Verna and Alcazar have been strong sellers for the company and so has the IONIQ 5, which it managed to sell out in the country. While EVs and turbo petrol powertrains have now become Hyundai India’s mainstay, the company has said, that it will not venture into the hybrid territory as yet.

Speaking in an interaction with the media, Hyundai COO, Tarun Garg said, “We have the technology, it is part of our global line up and if needed we can bring it to India anytime, but we choose not to and that’s solely because it does not make business sense for us.”

When questioned on how rivals have been able to sell hybrids, Garg said, “The taxation for hybrids is too high and while our competitors are selling cars with this technology, there are others like Honda, where, they made a decision not to bring it to its SUV (Elevate), so, we too have a clear strategy in place.”

Hybrid cars attract 43 per cent taxes while it’s just 5 per cent for EVs. Recently, Toyota had approached the government to reduce taxation on hybrid cars from 43 to 37 per cent on hybrids and 34 per cent on flex hybrids. The automaker further said that India's tax structure and use of more expensive powertrains makes producing hybrids "30 per cent-35 per cent costlier than its petrol counterparts"