Hyundai Motor India: Upping the Ante With New Launches According to Tarun Garg, MD & CEO Designate, by 2030, 80 per cent-plus of Hyundai's portfolio will be SUVs and MPVs

With sharper focus on expanding its market share, Hyundai Motor India, is upping its ante in the region. The plan, backed by an INR 45,000 crore investment by FY2030, is a vision on balance, manufacturing capacity expansion, alignment with Make in India and leveraging India's growing rural potential.

"We always believe in the quality of sales and quality of growth. Chasing only volumes and not looking at margins isn't sustainable. Now that we are listed, we are a more responsible organisation and we want to move forward leveraging our technology, strength of new products, our R&D and new powertrains," said Tarun Garg, MD & CEO Designate, Hyundai Motor India Limited, who will succeed the current MD and CEO, Unsoo Kim, effective January 1, 2026.

Rural penetration stood at 23.6 per cent in Q2FY26, the highest ever contribution. The growth in the smaller pockets are a result of road construction, highways, good monsoons, and favourable minimum support price.

"At Hyundai, we are seeing rural customers are shifting towards SUVs, in fact for the first time the rural contribution of SUVs has overtaken the urban. Although the difference is one per cent, the choices are very different now. Rural customers have choices similar to urban customers and that is helping us. Hyundai's SUV contribution is 71 per cent, and the industry SUV contribution stands at 53 per cent," Garg added, speaking on the sidelines of the all-new Hyundai Venue launch.

"Even for the Venue model, rural contribution is 29-30 per cent, more than my overall rural contribution. With the introduction of the automatic diesel, I think rural penetration for Venue will go up," he explained.

While the company's domestic ranking has recently fluctuated, with a brief push and pull, it aims to recover its position and is eyeing a market share of 15 per cent as the second-largest carmaker. While the automaker continues to hold the rank, it has been facing challenges from rivals such as Mahindra and Tata Motors, which have strong inroads into the SUV and EV segments.

Unfazed by the rising competition, Garg said its EV market share should be higher than the overall 15 per cent target which the company has set. By 2030, the company aims to bring five EVs from the Hyundai stable.

"Policy enablers are boosting EVs in India. Hyundai has already announced that in 2027, we are going to have a fully dedicated EV for the Indian market. We are playing a very critical role in improving the DC fast charging infrastructure in India. Going forward, we are going to have 600 by 2032. The supply chain battery packs have been localised, and we have already announced a tie up with a local Indian OEMs and forging partnerships for cell manufacturing. We are looking at localising the entire EV ecosystem," he said.

On hybrids and newer technologies, innovations are on the way. "India is a big market and there will be space for all technologies. In the immediate term, I think the biggest road driver will be EVs, but going forward, I believe maybe after a couple of years hybrids will also start playing a big role."

HMIL launched the all-new Hyundai Venue, which is the first of 26 new models Hyundai plans to launch in India by 2030. The new Venue will be exclusively manufactured at HMIL's state-of-the-art Pune plant for both domestic and global markets. The company has officially commenced production operations of passenger vehicles on October 1, 2025, with an annual installed capacity of 170,000 units, at its new manufacturing facility. With Phase 1 production underway, annual manufacturing capacity nears one million units.

"We have already announced that we are going to enter the off-roader and the MPV segments. We will be present everywhere by way of technology, engine, body type and products. Investment in R&D and finance by way of Hyundai Capital, is a very comprehensive plan that we have announced, and we will ensure it is executed properly. We are going to see multiple products in multiple segments, and evolution of new segments as well," he added.

Hyundai is developing its new Pune plant as a global export hub, aiming to increase its overall export contribution from India to 30 per cent by 2030. "With the Pune plant coming in, in terms of capacity, we would have the highest capacity outside of Korea. The export contribution which used to be about 21 per cent has reached 27 per cent this year. The new Venue will be exclusively produced in India. India's importance as an export hub is only going up," he explained.

When asked about rare earth, is it still a challenge? "We are keeping a close watch on the situation, and we are working very closely with our vendors to ensure that we have an unhindered production."

According to Garg, by 2030, 80 per cent-plus of Hyundai's portfolio will be SUVs and MPVs. "About 50 per cent plus portfolio will be greener fuels. We are very bullish about the Indian market. We believe we can grow at a CAGR of 7 per cent and reach a market share of 15 per cent- plus."