Hyundai Santro: Hyundai bids farewell to its Sunshine Car Santro to clear production line for next generation cars

Around 16 years, 1.9 million cars and over 500 variants later, last year in November the Indian automotive industry said its goodbye to one of the most popular and favourite cars in the county. India’s second largest auto manufacturers Hyundai Motor India Limited discontinued its flagship car Hyundai Santro in November after ruling the market for 16 years. One of the main reasons behind this decision was to clear their production line for next generation of cars that are about to enter the Indian shores.

The carmaker’s manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur near Chennai witnessed a historic and poignant moment as it saw Hyundai’s ‘sunshine car’ the Santro undertake its final journey across the assembly line before driving into the sunset. It was a historical moment not only for Hyundai India but for the whole Indian automotive industry. The Santro hatchback was single handedly responsible for the growth of Hyundai India for nearly a decade as it fought its way up the market competing with the biggest carmaker in the country Maruti Suzuki.

Commenting on their decision BS Seo, managing director, HMIL tells Forbes India, “Santro redefined the compact segment. The product built remarkable trust in the technology, design and safety with its customers. It has been one of the strongest brands in our portfolio till now.” But automotive technology and design philosophies have evolved since Santro’s launch in late 1998. “Almost every part in Santro is relatively outdated today and we have also embraced a fluidic design philosophy across all segments. Continuing Santro will fly against our own mantra of offering the best to Indian customers,” points out T Sarangarajan, vice president (production), HMIL. So the decision was made. “Now it is time to bid farewell to this iconic brand,” says Seo. According to reports the Santro still sells over 30,000 units a year and though niche it has its own set of followers. However the decision was not sudden and was a strategically thought through so though sentimental it was not very painful for the Hyundai India.

The car entered the Indian market in 1998, at a time when the largest player in the Maruti owned nearly 80% of the overall market shares. When most of the carmakers though it was not a wise choice to enter the compact car segment in India, Hyundai saw an opportunity in a growing market which had just two major players—Maruti and Mahindra & Mahindra and if they were to bring in the right product, it would work.