Consumer trends vary every decade or so across numerous industries, including the car industry. Hyundai Exter, the tiny sedan was born in the early 2010s as a result of a tax loophole that allowed vehicles under four metres in length to pay lesser excise duty. You’ve probably seen thousands of these sedans on the road. The Maruti-Suzuki Swift Dzire was an instant success and is still one of India’s best-selling vehicles. However, the market has altered once more.
And it has switched to a boxy Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) body type, in my opinion. According to manufacturers, one out of every two passenger vehicles sold in India is an SUV or a Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV), both of which are categorised as Utility Vehicles by the Society of Indian Automotive Manufacturers (SIAM). According to the most recent wholesale data from SIAM, 5.46 lakh of the 9.96 lakh passenger vehicles sold in India in the first quarter of this fiscal year were classed as “Utility Vehicles.”
Tata Motors has benefited greatly from this shift in consumer tastes, with the Tata Punch being one of its best-selling models. With a length of just over 3.8 metres, this’sub-sub compact’ SUV has been the only one in its sector and has the sales figures to prove it, moving between 10-12,000 units monthly for the previous few months. The new Hyundai Exter, however, is a Korean competitor to the Punch. Hyundai, whose number two position in the Indian car market has been challenged in the last year by Tata Motors, is not playing games.
Hyundai India has been accused of moving upmarket in the last decade, owing to the popularity of the Creta and Tucson. Some may feel that the Korean company has forgotten its beginnings as a low-cost compact car maker; the Exter is a clear attempt to recover those roots.