How Hyundai is Adapting to Changing Consumer Preferences in India: A Study

Hyundai is one of the top 3 carmakers in India. Back when the automobile industry was dominated by the (then) government-backed Maruti Suzuki, this Korean company came without any warning and took the market by storm. It quickly gained credibility and success by endorsing celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan (Yes, the Santro was the cool stuff back in those days) and mixing this with a hardcore marketing strategy helped Hyundai smoothly tap into the changing car-buying preferences of the Indians, because in those days buyers were looking to buy affordable yet good quality family cars which are also cheap to maintain and reliable.

Hyundai’s Dynamic Strategy since its arrival in India

After almost 3 decades, the company has continued refining its art of being first with new products, variants and features. Although some of these products ended up flopping (Like Kona Electric), the strategy was to establish the brand’s reputation as a cutting-edge and technologically advanced brand, which worked. I mean, when you look at Hyundai, you think of top-notch features and quality.

And now the recent buyer trend in India has shifted from small cars to SUVs. Hyundai noticed this trend even before it became mainstream and started acting on it by launching big cars like Creta and Tucson. Now when other brands were just catching up, Hyundai went ahead and launched the entry-level Venue SUV which ended up being a super hit.

Hyundai knows that being first is what makes their products sell. They know that customers don’t look at the market share of a car to buy it. Instead, they are excited by a particular launch, and they then think of buying that model. This happened when Hyundai shifted from small cars to SUVs, as seen by the success of the Creta.

Speaking of shifts, when the market preferences shifted to SUVs, the market share of the sedans and hatchbacks started to diminish. Alongside other brands, Hyundai also took action and reduced the production of sedans and hatchbacks. Although they had launched new sedans and hatches over the years like the Nios, Aura, Verna and i20, Hyundai still adjusted the launches according to the market trend which is in favour of SUVs.

Hyundai is also facing a huge supply and demand crisis at hand which has increased in recent years. Since they only have two manufacturing plants in Chennai, the brand is facing a backlog of almost 1.35 Lakh customers and is trying to fulfil it (this explains the long waiting periods for Creta). To tackle this issue, Hyundai is also in the process of acquiring a new plant in Pune which previously belonged to GM Motors in the hope of increasing their production capabilities.

Also, with the EV wave coming in, Hyundai is moving towards this electrification phase with many electric vehicles lined up for launch in India soon like the Creta EV and Ioniq 6. The brand is also planning to offer hybrid vehicles for the Indian market to not only meet the strict emission norms but also make their products appealing to environment-conscious buyers. Furthermore, this will also help them appeal to those who do want to jump on the electric train right now.

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