Hyundai entered the Russian market as a budget brand, but now it is hard to call. Do Russians perceive it in a new guise? About this "Behind the Wheel. RF" says the managing Director of "Hyundai Motor CIS" Denis Petrunin.
Managing Director of Hyundai Motor Company, Denis Petrunin-The company has great expectations from the market despite instability in global financial markets. How can you be so sure of yourself? -Hyundai is to sell about 90 thousand Solaris by the end of the year. We're expecting good indicators. The demand for Hyundai is growing faster than our production capacity. Suffice it to say that the Hyundai concern did not fall into the past crisis. -IN THE SHISHA? -It's all over. If you look at the global world of Hyundai, it will be a 15 percent increase in the crisis year. Hyundai has been operating at its manufacturing capacity for the past five years. Therefore, in order to get additional volume for Russia, it needs to be redistributed. The plant has opened in St. Petersburg-it is an additional force, and the production of Hyundai ix35 crossover in the Czech Republic is organized. This will give us an additional influx of new cars. " The Korean company has entered the Russian market as a budgetary mark and has remained so long. For example, the Sonata and Elantra models were very popular in the budget machines and now stand in a much higher price category. What is the connection to this movement? " This is due to the real growth of the Hyundai brand. Once again, we have a demand on the Russian market that exceeds the offer. Are you asking if people are willing to pay for Hyundai's car? Yes, it has grown so much the brand and quality of its products that people are willing to pay. -Sonata has a line now? -We sell about 400 cars a month. The real level can be higher, according to our sensations, at least one thousand Sonata can be sold per month. The average price of the vehicle is 1.1 million rubles. -Has Hyundai's attitude to Hyundai as a budgetary mark has changed? " Someone already sees us differently and understands-it is a fast-growing company that sells a virtually premium product for still quite affordable money. Of course, the truth is that there are customers who once became the owners of Hyundai Getz or Tucson, and they have a desire to continue cooperation with our company. These people can now purchase Solaris and ix35. For comparison, in 2008-2009 the average price of implemented Getz was about 450 thousand rubles. Today, the value of Solaris starts at 433,000 rubles. The person who once bought the average Getz can now buy a car with air-conditioner, two airbags, etc. That's why we didn' t lose our client. -How does the dealer network take you after changing the image to a more premium? " There was a period when sales of cars were carried out by small companies that did not offer high standards. But a few years have passed, and the Hyundai's perception of the Hyundai brand has changed noticeably. First of all, note that there are large dealership centers with ample showrooms. That is, businessmen believed in us and made investments in their own development. In addition, those centres joined the centers, which until a certain point considered Hyundai as not a powerful partner. Now we cannot accept all those who want and test hard enough.