The company, which has presence in India through a 100 per cent subsidiary, today showcased the electric version of its small car i10 at the 10th Auto Expo here.
"We hope that the heightened interest in electric vehicles (EVs) will present us with a huge opportunity to bring in this technology to the Indian market in the near future," Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Director (Marketing and Sales) Arvind Saxena told reporters.
He, however, declined to give any time-frame as to when the electric vehicles would be introduced in India.
"A growing awareness among consumers for all things green inspired us to introduce the electric version of our compact car i10," Saxena said.
The i10 electric was first unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September last year and the company plans to produce the car in limited numbers for the South Korean market from this year.
Currently, only Reva produces electric four wheelers for the Indian market.
The i10 was globally launched in India in 2007, which clocked a sales of over 3 lakh units in 2009.
Besides, the company also showcased the sports variant of its luxury sedan Genesis at the auto show.
Fiat planning hybrid, India-specific small cars
Auto manufacturer Fiat India could come out with a hybrid car by the year-end or early 2011, apart from an India-specific small car, a senior company official said here Wednesday.
"The hybrid car will be powered by CNG (compressed natural gas) and gasoline. We are (also) working on a very India-specific small car model. I can't give out more details," Fiat India president and chief executive Rajeev Kapoor said.
Fiat also plans to double sales this year to 46,000 units but will not launch any new cars other than the variants of existing models, Kapoor added.
"Other than the variants launched today (Wednesday), we will not introduce any new models per se," he said, adding: "This year, we plan to sell about 46,000 units. Last year, we sold about 23,000 vehicles."
Kapoor said Fiat's new models -- Grande Punto and Fiat 500 -- were launched closer to the end of 2009, and were thus not able to contribute to the company's overall sales. "But they will in 2010."
The company Wednesday unveiled the diesel version of Fiat 500, three variants of Grande Punto and two of the Linea model.
Nissan to source components worth USD40 mn from India by 2012
Japanese auto maker Nissan today said it will source auto components worth USD 40 million (around Rs 185 crore) from India by 2012.
"There is a plan for us to utilise our Chennai facility for supplying components to Nissan's global operations such as in Thailand, China and Japan. By 2012, we are looking at sourcing components worth about 40 million dollars from India," Nissan Motor India Managing Director and CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama said.
He said this year the company is looking to source components worth 20 million dollars from India, which will go up to 30 million dollars by 2011.
Nissan is also on track to start the commercial production of its global compact car from the Chennai plant, where Rs 4,500 crore has been invested jointly with Renault.
"The compact car will be based on V-platform and we expect three models from that platform," Tokuyama said, adding that while the first one would be a hatchback, the second model would be a sedan and the third option is being evaluated currently.
The first car that is made on this global compact car platform in Chennai will have its global premiere at the Geneva Motor Show 2010.
Royal Enfield to shift to BS-III norm-compliant platform
Bike maker Royal Enfield, a part of Eicher Motors, today said it will shift entire production to a new engine platform from April this year to make products compliant to stricter emission norms 'Bharat Stage III'.
The company today showcased three new motorcycles, including one concept, primarily for the overseas markets.
"The year 2010 is an absolute crucial year for us as we are going to have a full switch over to a new engine platform from a 50-year-old one," Eicher Motors MD and CEO Siddhartha Lal told reporters at the 10th Auto Expo here.
From April 1 this year the company would start producing its entire range of products from the new 'unit construction engine' platform for rolling out BS-III emission norms compliance bikes, he added.
"We are producing 20 per cent of our total output from the new platform but from April it will be 100 per cent. All work and the investment have been already done," Lal said.
The company showcased three motorcycles -- Classic Chrome, Classic Battlegreen and the concept Caferacer.
"These bikes are primarily for exports but we are considering to launch these in Indian markets as well," Lal said.
The company would commercially launch Classic Chrome during mid 2010 which would be priced at about USD 6,000 and if it finds its way into India then it could be offered over Rs 1.4 lakh, he said.