From Korea, with love: Hyundai now wants to be a homegrown Indian company

Hyundai Motor India Ltd won early success with popular models such as the Hyundai Santro, Accent and i10, becoming India's second-largest carmaker by 2009. The company has guarded that position since then, but threats are rising - Mahindra and Mahindra outsold Hyundai in the first nine months of 2025; Tata Motors Ltd is catching up as well.

At Hyundai's sprawling Gurugram headquarters, Unsoo Kim, the company's outgoing India boss, spelt out a key goal, as the carmaker fights to guard its cherished position.

“Hyundai wants to be a homegrown brand in India. We want to grow with the community, economy, and the Indian nation."

Just a year ago, Hyundai launched India's biggest initial public offering (IPO), becoming only the second public outing for the Korean chaebol after its home country. Kim's impending return to Hyundai's Korea office, and the elevation of an Indian national as chief executive officer (CEO), marks another milestone in its India journey.

“When I joined Hyundai in 1991, at that time, our goal was that we wanted to be in the global top 10 of carmakers. Today, the Hyundai Motor Group is third largest globally," Kim said in an interview, sitting next to wholetime director and chief operating officer (COO) Tarun Garg, who takes the reins of Hyundai India in January.

“Every country has its own situation. India is also different. But if I look back at history, we have maintained the second position. There are many ups and downs," said Kim, adding that Hyundai is among the rare foreign carmakers which has managed to maintain its position in India for such a long time.

Hyundai's success has been remarkable in a market littered with the remains of multinational carmakers. Fiat SpA, Ford Motor Corp, General Motors Co. and Daewoo Motor Co. that entered India in the mid-1990s have folded up, unable to survive the price-sensitive Indian market. Other than Toyota Motor Corp. with 7% market share, others such as Honda, Skoda and Volkswagen languish as small players in the Indian car market.

Free hand?

Garg becomes the first Indian to lead Hyundai in its three decades in India. But as is often wondered at global MNCs, will Garg have a free hand to steer the ship of Hyundai? Both Kim and Garg say yes.

“Hyundai Motor Corp. cannot control every detail. Most decisions are taken within HMIL, but for areas such as powertrain development and the product pipeline, support from the parent company is required," Kim said.

Garg asserts that even today, the Indian board and management maintain full control of the local operations.

“I am the chief operating officer, fully empowered, and everyone under me reports to me, including Korean expats and Indian expats. Similarly, C.S. Gopalakrishnan is the chief manufacturing officer (CMO), and under him are production, quality, and supply chain," Garg said.

“HMIL has set a new standard in empowering business heads who are local, with full responsibility and full accountability. The structure is very clear. It’s not as if there is one structure for Korean employees and another for Indian employees," Garg said.

For Garg, the task has been cut out by the global management for the next five years: Launch 26 new cars, which include new nameplates and model upgrades, maintain healthy profitable margins and deliver 15% market share. Hyundai is looking to invest ₹45,000 crore in India for this.

“I want the profit, I want the volumes, I want the market share, I want customer satisfaction all together," said José Muñoz, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor Corp, pointing at Garg during a press briefing on 15 October. “So, he knows (the task at hand)," he jested.

Hyundai’s retail market share stood at 11.7% at the end of October, down from 13.4% at the end of FY25. But Garg isn't unduly worried. He explained that Hyundai's second best-seller, the Venue, was undergoing a full model change, the first in its 26-car plan.

“Consumers who are looking to buy a ₹6-10 lakh car want to upgrade from hatchbacks to these compact SUVs which provide space and comfort," Garg said. “With the Venue launch, the wholesale situation will be taken care of starting from November."

Nameplate vs Refresh

All of Hyundai's rivals—Tata, Maruti and Mahindra—have either introduced, or plan to introduce, a new nameplate this year. Meanwhile, Hyundai wants to juice more from existing best-sellers through facelifts and refreshes.

Tata Motors brings out the all-new Tata Sierra and Mahindra launches its XEV 9S this month; meanwhile, Hyundai is going for a full model upgrade of the Venue. Its new name plates are still some time away. According to its product plan, the company will introduce two new cars between FY27 and FY28, and five new cars between FY29 and FY30.

“Everyone has their own strategy, but ours is very clear," Garg said, pointing to the slew of model changes, derivatives, upgrades and new nameplates.

“I don’t agree that growth can come only from new nameplates. Creta has grown over 10% every year without relying on an all-new nameplate," said Garg, referring to Hyundai's volume-leader SUV. "For a listed company, it’s critical to drive incremental sales from existing models as well as new ones. Successful players reinvent existing models and expand powertrain choices," Garg added. Many current models will get new powertrain options such as CNG and hybrid as the company chalks out its strategy, he said.

Hyundai Motor India, which sold its shares at ₹1,960 in its IPO last year, on Friday closed at ₹2,329.05 on the BSE, up 19%. During the period, the Nifty Auto index was up 13%. Analysts at Nuvama Institutional Equities wrote in a 15 October note that Hyundai's 26-product plan is aggressive, which will help it wrest some market share back.

"This should ratchet up HMI’s domestic market share from 14% in FY25 to 15% by FY28E. HMI is also poised to benefit from a better share of SUVs and premiumization given increasing adoption of sunroofs, ADAS and automatics," the note said.

Sustainable growth

For Garg, the priority is sustainable growth, which gives the company not only growth in volume and market share but also profitability. And the Korean giant is not putting all its eggs in the domestic market basket. Both Kim and Garg said that Hyundai India has access to the global ecosystem of Hyundai Group for exports. Whenever the domestic market becomes tough, the company says it can accelerate exports.

In FY25, exports growth was flat at 163,386 units, against a 2.6% decline in domestic volumes. By FY30, the company wants to increase exports contribution to total sales from 21% to 30%.

Garg says its new plant in Talegaon near Pune will take total capacity to more than a million units annually by 2028 from around 824,000 before the addition.

“We believe in the quality of growth and the quality of sales. While volumes and market share are important, as a listed company, we also place strong emphasis on shareholder value. We want to grow in a balanced way, both in volume and in the bottom line," Garg said.

Both the top executives steering the India strategy remain defiant that Hyundai’s offensive has just begun, and it will continue to assert its presence in the Indian market.

“We will forever be here," Kim says on Hyundai, as his three-year-long stint in India comes to an end.