By Rohit Vaid

New Delhi, Jun 25 (IANS): Automobile major Hyundai Motor India is optimistic of a sales uptrend backed by a year-on-year repeat of pent-up demand as well as more upgrade options.

Accordingly, the company's latest research has thrown-open new finding that pin hopes on a new wave of customers, who are ready and willing to buy automobiles for personal mobility.

"Aspirations of customers are continuously going up. In the automobile sector, this need for upgrade is mostly focused around the SUV segment," said HMIL's Director Sales and Marketing Tarun Garg.

"Besides, with Covid probably owning a car has become a very important purchase for many."

Last month, the company cumulatively sold 30,703 units in May 2021. It had reported an off-take of 12,583 units in May 2020.

On a sequential basis, the automobile manufacturer's cumulative sales during April stood at 59,203 units.

Similarly, Hyundai's domestic sales rose to 25,001 units from 6,883 units reported for the corresponding period of last year.

However, exports remained flat. The company shipped out 5,702 units in May, a marginal rise from 5,700 units sold abroad in the like month of 2020.

In terms of future sales trends, Garg said some stress is expected in certain entry level segments while overall sales numbers will pick up due to factors such as a healthy monsoon and the need for personal mobility.

On the company's assent towards offering more premium vehicles, as a means to drive sales, Garg said: "The initial trend suggests that this strategy of moving up the chain as the Indian customer is moving is really working well and it is in line with the industry numbers very, very clearly."

Recently, Hyundai launched the premium 6- and 7-seater SUV Alcazar with four powertrain options - 2.0 l Petrol MPi engine (6AT or 6MT) and 1.5 l Diesel CRDi engine (6AT or 6MT).

Besides, he stated that the SUV segment now contributes about 46 per cent of the entire sales for the company on a fiscal basis.

"Our focus on the SUV segment has resulted in newer customers coming into the company's fold. In FY21 the segment grew to 46 per cent from 42.5 per cent in FY20."

At present, the company offers 5 SUVs in the country, namely Venue, Creta, Tucson, Alcazar and Kona Electric.

The automobile major has cumulatively sold over one million SUVs in domestic and export markets since beginning its operations in India.