India-made Hyundai Creta exports cross 2,00,000 units

The made-in-India Hyundai Creta has surpassed the 2,00,000 unit export milestone since manufacturing of the first-gen model began in 2015.The second-generation of the popular mid-size SUV is also seeing strong demand and is currently the bestselling utility vehicle in India.

• Cumulative exports of the Creta have crossed the 2,00,000-unit mark in five years
• Hyundai is currently India’s largest exported of passenger vehicles (PVs)
• Hyundai India exports products to 88 countries in 4 continents

Hyundai Creta annual exports

As per our sister publication Autocar Professional’s data analytics, the Creta’s best annual export performance came in FY2018 when a total of 50,820 units were despatched from Chennai Port. The year-wise trend of the mid-size SUV’s exports is as follows:

FY2016: 21,458 (estimated)

FY2017: 47,597

FY2018: 50,820

FY2019: 37,308

FY2020: 40,994

FY2021: 1,823 (April-August 2020)

With an export share of 26 percent (CY2019) in passenger car exports from India, Hyundai remains a significant contributor to the Indian automobile industry and the government’s Make in India initiative. 

Hyundai Creta price and engine details

Launched in March 2020, the new Creta comes with three engine options – a 1.5-litre petrol, a 1.4-litre turbo-petrol and a 1.5-litre diesel mill – each available with a different choice of automatic transmission. After a recent rejig of the variant line-up, Hyundai Creta prices now start at Rs 9.82 lakh and top off at Rs 17.32 lakh (all prices, ex-showroom, India).

Hyundai regains No. 1 PV exporter crown from Ford in FY2020

With total shipments of 1,69,861 units (+4.78 percent / FY2019: 1,62,105), Hyundai Motor India raced ahead with a comfortable lead of 38,002 units over Ford India, which despatched 1,31,476 units (-19.24 percent) to overseas markets. It may be recollected that Hyundai missed being India's top PV exporter in FY2019 by a whisker – of all 696 units! Ford India had first unseated Hyundai, the longstanding PV export leader, in FY2018.

In FY2020, the Verna sedan led the export charge for Hyundai, with total shipments of 60,065 units and accounting for 35 percent of the company's overall exports in FY2020. The growing demand for the made-in-India Verna saw the sedan notch 49.12 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth and stand out as the company's most exported car last fiscal, and India's second-best export model (after the Ford EcoSport). It is understood that the Verna is seeing robust demand from Middle East markets, especially Saudi Arabia.

The other Hyundai export models that saw growth were the Creta-Venue SUV combine, which with 47,601 units, saw YoY growth of 27.58 percent (FY2019: 37,308). Both SUVs have received a strong market response in Chile, Peru, Mexico, Tunisia and South Africa.

Meanwhile, the quartet of the Grand i10, Xcent, Elite i20 and Santro saw demand decline 24.67 percent to 62,195 units (FY2019: 82,568).

Earlier this year, Hyundai Motor India rolled out its three-millionth Made-in-India export car from its Sriperumbudur plant near Chennai, 20 years after it first started export operations. In CY2019, it exported 1,81,200 units with 792 customised variants according to country specific preference and demand.

The company currently exports 10 models – Atos (Santro), Grand i10 (Nios), Aura, Elite i20, i20 Active, Accent (Verna), Venue and Creta – to 88 countries in four continents: Latin America (33 countries), Africa (28 countries), Asia Pacific (26 countries) and Europe.

Also see:

Hyundai India has produced 3 million cars for export

Hyundai increases lead in SUV segment post lockdown