Hyundai Motor India, ET Auto

Hyundai’s total production capacity in India will exceed 10 lakh units after full expansion.Amid the rapidly growing Indian automotive industry, Hyundai Motor India, the country’s second-largest carmaker by volume, is set to expand its capacity starting this year.

The automaker, which currently operates two integrated manufacturing plants in Sriperumbudur, Chennai, with a combined annual production capacity of 8.24 lakh units, said the production at its upcoming second plant in Talegaon, near Pune, will begin by the last quarter of the ongoing fiscal year.

“The preparation is in full swing. Our aim is to make the Pune facility one of the best manufacturing plants globally,” Gopalakrishnan CS, chief manufacturing officer at the company, told ETAuto.

“All global manufacturing practices from Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) will be implemented in that plant,” he added.

To be opened in phases, Hyundai will begin production at the Talegaon plant with a capacity of 1.70 lakh units this year, increasing to 2.50 lakh units by 2028.

With this, Hyundai’s total production capacity in India will exceed 10 lakh units after full expansion, which is expected to be completed within the next three years.

In addition to meeting the growing demand for its Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) in the domestic and export markets, the new plant will also play a key role in supporting Hyundai’s electric vehicle (EV) strategy.

“We aim to make both the Pune and Chennai plants flexible for both ICE and EV production,” said Gopalakrishnan.

Hyundai is targeting the RE100 benchmark at its facilities this year. Last year, it announced an investment of Rs 38 crore to establish two renewable energy plants in Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, began production at its new Kharkhoda facility in Haryana this month. With this addition, Maruti Suzuki, including its wholly owned subsidiary Suzuki Motor Gujarat, will have a total annual production capacity of 26 lakh units.

Manufacturing best practices

According to Gopalakrishnan, one of the best practices at the company’s Chennai plant is the Global Body Build Line, which has significantly reduced new model introduction time. “The process has been simplified, as only the carrier needs to be removed during body building, while the sub-assembly moves,” he explained.

Talking about flexibility, he stated that the Creta EV is being produced on the same line as its ICE variant.

Strong IT support, artificial intelligence (AI), and Industry 4.0 technologies have enabled the company to produce multi-variant models in a limited time. Additionally, data analytics and IoT networks have played a crucial role in reducing downtime by predicting failures and major breakdowns. Unlike earlier, when operators had to manually check all critical points, now a simple scan of an auto part can provide predictive insights.

Currently, automation in the welding shop at Hyundai’s Chennai plant is close to 100%, while the assembly lines are about 30% automated, as they remain largely manual.

The plant has deployed 790 robots, including two cobots primarily used for defect checking. “The goal of introducing automation is to achieve greater consistency, improve quality, and reduce operator fatigue,” he said.

Pune plant acquisition

Hyundai, which made its debut on Indian stock exchanges in October last year, paid Rs 787.2 crore to General Motors (GM) to acquire its Talegaon plant in Maharashtra.

In August 2023, Hyundai signed a commercial agreement to buy the plant from the US carmaker, which exited India a few years ago. The deal, completed in December, included the purchase of the plant’s land and buildings, certain machinery and equipment, rights, interest, title, and the product distribution centre warehouse of Chevrolet Sales India at the same plant.

Additionally, Hyundai has allocated Rs 32,000 crore for its expansion in India between 2023 and 2032.

• Published On Feb 28, 2025 at 05:43 PM IST

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