Hyundai aims to tap rising demand in rural areas
The automaker's sales outlets in the rural areas have crossed the 600-mark already and it has also increased its manpower to over 5,000 people in such places
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New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India is looking to tap growth opportunities in the rural areas with rise in demand for aspirational products like sports utility vehicles and feature-rich models, according to company's Chief Operating Officer Tarun Garg.
The country's second largest carmaker is looking to enhance presence in the smaller towns and rural areas with more sales outlets and also initiatives like deployment of mobile service vans. The automaker's sales outlets in the rural areas have crossed the 600-mark already and it has also increased its manpower to over 5,000 people in such places. Hyundai's sales in the rural areas has crossed the one lakh-mark last year. "Almost 18 per cent of our sales are now coming from rural areas. It used to be about 16.5 per cent. So, we have improved on that front. We touched one lakh retails for the first time last year. We now also have 100 mobile service vans in the rural areas," Garg told PTI in an interaction. With information about various products readily available now via cell phones and improvement in the road infrastructure, the demand for products that are up in the value chain has gone up in the hinterlands, he said.
"The divide between urban and rural is actually reducing, because so many people are now using data and mobile phones, which means that access to information is also very high," Garg said.
The other thing which has happened is that earlier rural markets preferred smaller cars but now there is a huge demand for products like Creta, Venue as well, he noted. The expectation of most of the rural customers is now the same as that of the urban customers, he said.
