Hyundai stops Europe shipments from Chennai plant
12 Aug 2014
Korean auto giant and India's largest car exporter Hyundai has stopped shipments from its Chennai plant to Europe, with the company starting production at the auto major's plants in Turkey and Czech Republic, PTI reported.
The move would cut overseas shipments from the company's Chennai plant this year to 1.9 lakh units as against 2.53 lakh units last year.
The development would see the company look to Latin America, Middle East, Australia and Asia for exports.
"It has been about a month that we have stopped serving Europe, which will now be served by Hyundai plants in Turkey and Czech Republic," HMIL senior vice-president sales and marketing Rakesh Srivastava told reporters.
Europe accounted for the bulk of HMIL's exports, taking up 40 per cent of the company's exports from the Chennai plant, which has a capacity of 6.8 lakh units annually.
According to Srivastava, the step was taken in view of the need for immediate capacity at the Chennai to serve the requirement of the Indian market. HMIL's capacity utilisation of the Chennai plant stood at 98.5 per cent last year.
"In the last one year, we launched four brands in India.
"Therefore, we needed to create capacity. Our priority is the domestic market. So when the Turkey plant became ready Hyundai decided to move export of European model of i20 there. Going forward all the European models of i20 and i10 will be served from Turkey and Czech Republic," he said.
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