Hyundai responds to strong buyer interest in the new Verna

When Hyundai India had launched the new Verna in May this year with prices ranging from Rs. 6.99 lakh to Rs. 10.74 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) they had a target of selling around 45,000 Verna during the first year.

On Tuesday, Hyundai announced that they would ramp up the production of the Fluidic Verna which has already received over 20,000 bookings.

“In order to cater to the strong demand, we are trying to increase the production to help us reduce the waiting period and clear the backlog of bookings at the earliest,” Arvind Saxena, Director Marketing and Sales, Hyundai was quoted as saying by The Economic Times

Ever since its launch sales of the new Hyundai Verna have been surging upwards and crossed 4,000 cars in May alone. “It is a matter of great pride for us to have received such an encouraging response for our recently launched sedan – the new Fluidic Verna,” H. W. Park, MD & CEO, HMIL, had earlier said.

Verna vs. the competition

The Hyundai Verna has been pitted against cars like the Volkswagen’s Vento, Maruti Suzuki SX4, Honda City, Toyota Corolla Altis, Chevrolet Optra and the yet-to-be launched new Ford Fiesta.

Verna sold 4,357 units in May dethroning the segment leader Volkswagen Vento which sold only 2,403 units in the same period. The Maruti Suzuki SX4 and Honda City sold 2,702 units and 1,828 units in the same period respectively.

Till just about five months back, Honda City was the undisputed leader of the segment and was comfortably clocking 4,000+ units per month in sales. But it has been steadily losing sales through the last few months. Honda decided to make the City proposition more attractive by slashing prices by Rs 44,000-66,000. How buyers respond to the City versus Verna proposition will be evident in the next few months.

Why Verna such a hit among buyers

What has made the Verna such a success are its good looks, long features list and the fact that the car makes the most power in its class. The petrol 1.6 litre engine makes 123 bhp of power and 156 Nm of torque, while the diesel 1.6 makes 126 bhp of power and 263 Nm of torque.

The new Verna is extremely gadget friendly and the top-end variant that comes with a Start-stop button, six airbags, all-round disc brakes, Bluetooth phone controls, automatic climate control, multi-information display, parking sensors, electro-chromic mirror and reverse camera integrated into the mirror display. The gizmos make this car better on the features list than some cars a segment above.

Hyundai believes it has the buyers’ momentum behind it, and has therefore decided to increase the production capacity for the Verna. It should be interesting to see whether the buyer interest stays high, or competitor’s including the new Ford Fiesta will succeed in reducing buyer interest in the fluidic Verna.