NEW DELHI, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The Indian unit of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co said on Monday it expected sales to touch $1.2 billion in the year to March 2006 on the back of rising exports and new car launches.
Hyundai, India's second-biggest car company and the maker of the popular Santro hatchback, posted a turnover of 34.03 billion rupees ($702 million) in the year to March 2002 and a profit after tax of over 2.0 billion rupees.
"India is one of the most important markets for us. We are looking at sales of $1.2 billion for the financial year ending March 2006," Kim Dong-jin, chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor Company, told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference. Kim did not reveal his expectations on earnings.
Hyundai competes with market leader Maruti Udyog Ltd, a unit of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp , and the local subsidiaries of U.S.-based firms Ford Motor Co and General Motors Corp in the nearly 600,000-a-year Indian new car market.
Kim said the South Korean parent planned to invest $300 million in the next three years on the expansion of its plant in southern India.
Hyundai makes three models -- the Santro and the Accent and Sonata sedans -- at its $614-million plant on the outskirts of Madras. The fully-owned unit's major markets are Algeria, Morocco and Indonesia.
"We hope (exports) to grow from 6,000 units to about 50,000 over the next three years and plan to concentrate on the European markets," said B.V.R. Subbu, president at Hyundai Motor India.
Hyundai plans to launch a series of cars in the Indian market in the next year including the Getz hatchback, the Terracan sports utility vehicle, a diesel variant of the Accent and an automatic version of the Santro.
"The Getz is positioned between the Santro and the Accent. We are evaluating various options for its powertrain including a 1.3 litre engine," Subbu said.
The company sold 90,028 cars in 2001, mostly Santros, and expects volume sales to rise 10 percent this year.
"We hope to cross 100,000 units in 2002, which I think is a reasonable performance in a market that has been on a slide," Subbu said.
India's new car sales edged up just 0.48 percent to 570,473 units in the past year to March 2002 as slowing industry growth, flat exports and fears of a war with Pakistan dented sentiment. ($1 = 48.50 rupees)