Auto India, Car India

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Hyundai launched its much talked about Eon yesterday. This car is expected to be direct competitor to Alto, one of the top selling models of Maruti Suzuki. The launch of Eon was done when Maruti Suzuki is reeling under the effects of the agitation at its Manesar plant. What makes the car a threat to the seven year old dominance of Alto is the pricing of the car that starts at Rs. 2.7 lakh.

In the past year, Maruti Suzuki reported to have sold almost three and a half lakh of Alto. This figure accounts for about 16% of the total cars sold in India, and is more than Volkswagen’s Gol & Golf. In the first year, Hyundai has a target to sell about 2.5 units of the newly launched car. Arvind Saxena, the director for sales of Hyundai said, “We are looking at the sub-compact segment, which is a fourth of the total Indian market and ushers in the greatest potential for growth in the world’s second fastest market.” Apart from being competitively priced, Eon is armed with stylish looks has a 814 cc engine and is fuel efficient.

Experts have reason to believe that there will be a stiff competition between Hyundai’s Eon and Maruti Suzuki’s Alto. Although Eon was launched on Thursday, the manufacturing of the car had already started in the month of September, in order to meet the demand during the festive season. The car maker expects good sales because of two reasons: one is the festive season and the other is its competitor (Maruti Suzuki) has temporarily stopped the manufacturing of the car because of the prolonged labor issues that continues even after three months.

The MD of IHS automotive India remarked that Eon has edge over Alto as it had “fluid styling” and “contemporary engineering”. The CEO of a Delhi based automotive company remarked that Eon is an ideal car for the first time buyers who account for nearly one fourth of the total cars sold in India.

Although Alto generates about one fourth of the total profit for the company, Maruti Suzuki seems unperturbed by the new competitor in the market. The top notch official for sales of Maruti says, “The new Eon does bring in new competition in small car segment, but Maruti is the brand to reckon with in compact cars. All our cars have low cost of ownership and higher resale value that defines the segment norms across brands.” The car maker has already plans to launch a new model with 800 cc engine.