Hyundai Verna global production to shift from Korea to India

Hyundai will be shifting the global production of its popular mid-size sedan, the Verna completely from its home country to India. Hyundai will be using the manufacturing facility at Chennai to make and supply the Verna to all its global markets, starting January 2018.

Hyundai is targeting an annual production of approximately 1.3 lakh units of the Verna (50,000 for the domestic market and 80,000 for export markets). Hyundai will be exporting the Verna to markets like Latin America, Africa, Middle East and several Asian countries.

However, Hyundai will continue to make the Verna in China and Russia for the local markets there. With this, the company aims to achieve a 100 percent capacity utilisation (the factory currently operates at 95-98 percent capacity).

While Hyundai’s annual capacity has remained at 6.7-7 lakh units, the Koren automaker is likely to increase this number to 7-7.2 lakh due to strong demand for the Creta in both domestic as well as overseas markets.

Making India as a hub for manufacturing the Verna will indeed give India a better brand value as our country has long been known as a manufacturing hub for small passenger cars. Adding to this brand value is another Hyundai, the Creta. Last year, about 45,000 units of Creta were exported to overseas markets.

American carmaker Jeep also started producing the Compass SUV locally at its facility in Maharashtra. The Jeep Compass is also exported to all the right-hand-drive markets. German auto giant Volkswagen ships the Vento from India to the Latin American markets.

Hyundai launched the next-generation Verna just a few weeks back and it has already garnered 7000 bookings. The Verna comes powered by 1.6 petrol and diesel engines and rivals the Honda City, Maruti Ciaz, Skoda Rapid, Volkswagen Vento, Nissan Sunny and Fiat Linea.