Hyundai to launch second car plant in TN

Chennai: Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) formally inaugurated its second plant here on Saturday and is setting a domestic sales and export target of 5.30 lakh units this year. With the commissioning of the second plant, the installed capacity at the Chennai facility will increase three lakh units to six lakh units annually.

The new plant, which is constructed in the same 525-acre plot in Sriperambudur, adjacent to the first plant, will currently be dedicated for manufacturing Hyundai’s recent global small car offering – the i10. The new plant has a flexible assembly line and can produce four different models simultaneously.

HMIL has already invested a total of $750 million in the new plant. A further $250 million is due to be invested, largely for the setting up of a new engine manufacturing plant that will have an installed capacity to roll out three lakh engines annually when it goes on stream by the end of the year.

The second plant of HMIL was formally inaugurated by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Dr M. Karunanidhi. Also present at the ceremony were the Chairman of Hyundai and Kia Group, Mr Mong-Koo Chung and Dr R.C. Panda, Secretary, Union Ministry for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

With the total investment in the second plant working out to about $1 billion, and $733 million already invested in the first plant, HMIL’s total investment at the integrated facility works out to about Rs 6,000 crore.

The new plant can produce close to 57 cars per hour. Cars meant for both the domestic and export markets will pass through the same assembly line.

An additional 7,500 persons have been recruited for the new plant. The second plant will be fully operational by 2009 and total production then will hit the six-lakh mark.

R&D centre

HMIL is also in the process of setting up an R&D centre in a 15-acre plot near Hyderabad. The company is investing about $40 million in the new facility, which will focus on computer-aided design and testing. Models that are likely to manufactured by Hyundai later this year and early 2009 and which will be specifically for exports include the i10 diesel and the new i20.

Talking about the dedicated transportation logistics that company has been seeking for facilitating exports, company officials said that the Chennai port space is being doubled.

As for their request for rail connectivity, talks are currently under way with the State Government, they said.