‘We Want To Be The Segment Leader'

YK Koo is the Managing Director and CEO of Hyundai Motor India since November 2015. Amidst the ongoing celebrations marking 20 years of Hyundai India, Koo speaks to Ashish Sinha on the future of India’s secondlargest carmaker. Excerpts:

- Ashish Sinha

Many congratulations for completing two decades in India. Tell us about the future plans. What can we expect in the next 2-3 years?

We are happy with our 20-year successful journey in India. Now, we are looking ahead at the next 20 years. Till 2020, we are targeting to launch 8 new products, a power train, and related infrastructure that will entail a combined investment of $1 billion. We are looking at launching a new compact SUV by April next year. Our plant at Sriperumbudur (near Chennai) is ready for the future and we plan to meet the safety and emission norms in advance, even before the mandatory industry implementation in 2019.

For our Chennai plant, we have adopted futuristic technologies to produce vehicles. We recently achieved a new milestone by becoming the fastest Indian automobile manufac turer to roll out 8 million cars in 19 years and nine months. We’re currently producing 75 percent for the domestic market and 25 percent for the export market. In the next three years or so, we hope that domestic sales will account for 80 per cent of our production.

There is talk that AH2, the small car, will be the new Santro. Tell us how AH2 differs from the Santro and what will it finally be called?