On the back of strong demand momentum for the Exter, Hyundai is ramping up production capacity for its highly successful entry-level SUV by 30 percent as the cumulative bookings have crossed 75,000 units.
A majority of the demand has been for the higher-spec variants, and waiting periods already extend up to a maximum of nine months. Ramp up in production will, therefore, be crucial to bring down wait times on this popular Punch-rival.
- Production ramped up from 6,000 to 8,000 units monthly
- Top-spec variants in greater demand
Hyundai Exter: production, order backlog
Since production commenced, Hyundai has been building 6,000 units of the Exter a month. The brand has now announced that production capacity has been ramped up to 8,000 units at its Chennai facility in order to clear the increasing order backlog.
Additionally, the company is also diverting some of the volumes meant for exports to the domestic market as the waiting period already extends beyond six months for most variants, and is hovering at around a maximum of nine months for the popular ones. Sources tell us that the production capacity is likely to further improve sometime in 2024.
Exter not affecting Venue sales
While there were fears of Exter cannibalizing Venue sales, the company claims that the sales of Venue have remained above 10,000 units per month and there is hardly any cannibalisation there. There, however, has been a marginal impact on the Grand i10 Nios hatchback by 1000-1500 units, although its not a surprise given that hatchbacks are now a diminishing segment. Overall, the Exter has brought in incremental sales for the company by about 6000 units.
The launch of Exter has expanded the entry-level SUV segment and it has already become the second highest selling entry-level SUV after Tata Punch, helping the company inch back to a 20 percent segment share in the SUV space once again.
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