A new Eon on Indian roads

Over the past decade, I've attended over 50-60 car launches at all sorts of exotic locales across India. Dancers and fireworks are standard fare, but the launch of the Hyundai Eon at Gurgaon's Kingdom of Dreams entertainment venue was something else, even for a jaded, old automotive reporter. The dancers at the venue put on a ten-minute show that left people gasping at their sheer brilliance. Despite the dancers' unqualified enthusiasm, the star of the show was the new car.

Simply put, it just looks a lot better than any competitor in its class, with its flowing shoulder lines and flared wheel-arches. Hyundai has seemingly perfected the ability to stamp out steel panels with distinct edges and is not afraid to incorporate that technology even on the cheapest car in their line-up. Made for a budget of just Rs 900 crore, this is Hyundai's cheapest car ever , although Mahindra did develop the XUV5OO for just Rs 550 crore in comparison.

But Hyundai India's Director for Sales and Marketing, Arvind Saxena, said that the company has a twelve-month target of 140,000-150,000 Eon cars. This is surprising given the Rs 2.70 lakh - Rs 3.72 lakh price bracket for the car, putting it slap-bang in competition with the Maruti Alto KB10 and Chevrolet Spark.

A reason for Saxena's hesitation could be the fact that Hyundai has almost no overhead manufacturing ability; its entire 600,000 capacity in India is currently spoken for, even with a 10 per cent rise in production made possible with tweaks on the line, Hyundai India will have to eat into their export volumes for the Eon. With Western European demand tanking, as well as Hyundai's Turkey factory taking some of the load, Hyundai India is definitely planning to become a domestic-oriented producer.

Business Today will soon carry a review of the Hyundai Eon.