Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said Thursday that its Indian unit has surpassed the 3 million production and sales mark this week, becoming the second automaker in India to ever accomplish the feat.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMI) also became India's first automobile manufacturer in February to export over 1 million vehicles, according to
Hyundai officials here.
"The Indian unit of Hyundai Motor has also become one of the automakers in the Indian market that now attracts the most attention as its production and sales, including overseas shipments, topped 3 million units," the South
Korean automaker said in a press release.
HMI sold nearly 290,000 vehicles in India last year while shipping an additional 277,000 vehicles overseas. The company's sales increased 19.7 percent on-year in the first half of the year to some 307,350 units.
HMI began producing its first vehicles in September 1998, and currently has two plants with an annual production capacity of 600,000 units in
Chennai, the capital city of India's southernmost state of Tamil Nadu.
The only other automaker in India ever to produce and sell over 3 million vehicles is Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the Indian unit of Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corp., it said.