Hyundai Motor India to take on Maruti Suzuki with 'connected' cars

Company News

Hyundai Motor India, the second-largest carmaker in the country, will soon join market leader Maruti Suzuki in the contest for the emerging ‘connected car’ segment. The Korean manufacturer’s local arm is to launch its first such vehicle, the Hyundai Venue, in May.

A compact SUV, the Venue has been developed to meet Indian driving conditions and to address the limitations that come along. Below 4 metres in length, the vehicle is to be pitched against Maruti’s Vitara Brezza, Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M’s) TUV 300 and Ford’s EcoSport.

It will come with nearly 10 features developed specifically for the local market, the company said, apart from 23 standard ones such as auto crash notification, emergency assistance and auto diagnosis. The India-specific features address driving behaviour, vehicle tracking and geo-fencing.

Ji Hong Baek, managing director of Hyundai Motor India Engineering, the company’s R&D centre, says the Venue has been developed on core technology owned by Hyundai globally.

Maruti, M&M

Major carmakers in the country are loading barrels for the coming battle in the field. Maruti Suzuki has already launched, as an optional feature for all its models sold through its Nexa, the ‘Suzuki Connect’. Starting mid-2018, a bunch of connected features can be added in its models like the Ignis, Ciaz, Baleno and S-Cross for Rs 9,999.


 Developed in India, the Suzuki Connect operates much like the promised Hyundai Venue. Both firms have taken the globally-tested path of connecting their cars through a SIM, the data stored in local cloud...Read More

Mahindra to increase price of vehicles by up to Rs 73,000 from April

Company News

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Thursday said it will increase the price of its passenger and commercial vehicles by Rs 5,000 to Rs 73,000 from April to partially offset the impact of rising input costs.

The price of the company's vehicles will go up by 0.5 per cent to 2.7 per cent from next month due to the price hike, the company said in a statement.

"This year has seen record high commodity price increases. Further there are regulatory requirements effective April 1 that have also led to cost increases.

While we have made efforts to reduce our costs, it has not been possible to hold back the price increase," M&M President Automotive Sector Rajan Wadhera said in the statement.
Consequently, the company is taking a price increase from April 1, he added.

The company sells various utility vehicles ranging from newly launched compact SUV XUV300 to premium SUV Alturas G4. M&M also sells various commercial vehicles including Supro and Jeeto in the domestic market.

Earlier this week, French car maker Renault had announced increase in price of Kwid range in India by up to 3 per cent from April.

Last week, Tata Motors had also announced increase in price of its passenger vehicles by up to Rs 25,000 from April on account of rising input costs and external economic conditions.

 M&M joins the likes of Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover which have also stated that they would raise price of select models from April.