Nearly 30 years after entering India, Hyundai is nearing a major sales milestone, driven by more SUVs and greater local production.
Hyundai Motor is poised to hit 10 million cumulative sales in India by year-end, fueled by surging SUV sales.
The milestone comes about three decades after the South Korean automaker entered India, one of the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets.
According to data released Sunday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Hyundai has sold a cumulative 9,884,960 vehicles in India as the end of September, leaving it just shy of 10 million.
At its current sales pace, Hyundai is expected to cross the 10 million mark before the end of this year.
Hyundai established its Indian subsidiary in 1996 and began production and sales in 1998 with the Santro hatchback at its Chennai plant in southern India. The model quickly became a household name, helping Hyundai secure the country’s second-largest market share in its first year.
Building on that early success, Hyundai expanded its lineup with compact models including the i10, i20 and Verna, reaching 1 million cumulative sales in 2007 and 5 million in 2017.
A key turning point came in 2015 with the introduction of the Creta, Hyundai’s first SUV developed specifically for the Indian market. Designed to suit local preferences, including the needs of large families and challenging road conditions, the model sold more than 40,000 units in its first year and won the 2016 Indian Car of the Year award.
Hyundai subsequently expanded its SUV portfolio with the Venue in 2019, the three-row Alcazar in 2021 and the Exter in 2023. The company also introduced Creta Electric, its first locally produced battery electric vehicle, in 2025, bringing its SUV lineup to eight models.
Rising SUV demand is a major driver of Hyundai's growth in India. Annual sales surpassed 500,000 vehicles for the first time in 2016, while its market share peaked at 17.4 percent in 2020. In 2024, Hyundai posted record annual sales of 605,433 units.
SUVs made up more than half of Hyundai’s Indian sales for the first time in 2021, and their share has kept climbing since. Last year, the company sold 398,937 SUVs, accounting nearly 70 percent of total sales.
The trend continued this year. Of the 471,724 Hyundai vehicles sold in India during the first nine months, 316,026 were SUVs, representing 67 percent of total sales.
Hyundai Motor CEO Jose Munoz said the automaker aims to increase the share of SUVs in its Indian sales to 80 percent by 2030, at the company’s CEO Investor Day in August.
Hyundai is also boosting its local manufacturing investment, aiming to turn India into a key global production and export hub.
With its new Pune plant in operation, Hyundai’s annual production capacity in India has grown to about 1 million vehicles, with 824,000 at its two Chennai plants and 170,000 at Pune.
The company plans to expand Pune’s production to 250,000 units by 2028 and 320,000 by 2030, taking its total Indian capacity above 1.1 million.
Hyundai also aims to raise the localization rate of automotive parts to more than 90 percent by 2030 to strengthen cost competitiveness, while raising exports to as much as 30 percent of its Indian output.
sahn@heraldcorp.com
