Hyundai to cut Santro production by 20 per cent

Hyundai Motor India Ltd will cut its production and sales target for the year ending March 2000 by nearly 20 per cent. The reason: slack market conditions. The target for Santro sales has been scaled down from 50,000 to 40,000. In 1998-99, the company had proposed to sell 20,000 units, but actual sales are likely to be 17,500.

The company will also review its plan to make the 1,500-cc 'LC' model car, slated to roll out of the factory in October this year. The launch may be postponed to the year 2,000. Hyundai Motor Company had planned to make India a base for export of the LC model to Latin American markets.

Over half of the production in India will be exported in a completely knocked down condition. The LC, modelled on Hyundai's Accent, will be launched in Korea in June this year. Turkey is another country which Hyundai has selected as a base for the manufacture of the LC. The car will be priced around Rs 7 lakh in India.

Hyundai Motors India expects to end 1998-99 with a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore.

The company would like to increase the price of the Santro model, but the pricing adopted by rivals is making that difficult. The company's officials are saying that its competitors have priced their cars so low they will not make money profits.