Hyundai IPO: From launching Santro to bringing IPO, journey of Hyundai Motors in India so far

Hyundai IPO : Hyundai Motors India was incorporated in 1996. Within 17 months of its incorporation, the company started the pilot production of Santro at its Irrungattukottai plant near Chennai. After 28 years of a roller coaster journey in India, Hyundai Motors has come up with its public issue of Rs 27,870 crore. On its first day of issue, the IPO recorded an 18 per cent subscription on its first day of bidding. This marked India's largest share sale and the world's second-biggest IPO of 2024.

The bidding for the IPO started on October 15, 2024 and will conclude on October 17, 2024. The IPO is priced between 1,865 and 1,960 rupees per share. If the IPO achieves its target price, Hyundai Motors India would be valued at around $19 billion, roughly 40 per cent of its South Korean parent company’s value.

Let us look at the journey of Hyundai Motors in India so far

Hyundai Motor’s journey from first launch in 1998 to 2000:

Hyundai Motors India first launched the Santro in India using tall-boy design language. At the time, it made a global debut in India. The hatchback became an instant hit among consumers at that time and seeing this, Hyundai launched the Accent in India in 1999. In 2000, the company rolled out its 1,00,000th car from the Chennai plant in just 19 months since the commencement of its operations.

Later in the year, the company launched a new variant of the Santro, the zipDrive. This helped the company push the sales figures of Santro to 1,00,000 units. The company recorded its first major export shipment in the same year for Algeria. By the end of 2000, Hyundai rolled out 1,50,000th car from the Chennai plant.

Hyundai Motor’s journey from 2001 to 2005:

In this period, the company recorded some major achievements in exports, and domestic sales. It also launched new car variants and models for the Indian market. Hyundai Motors India rolled out its 2,00,000th car in India in 2001. The same year it launched the Hyundai Sonata as a luxury sedan in the market. In 2002, the company provided advancements and updates to its specific models such as Accent and Santro by launching new powertrain options. The same year, it rolled out 350,000th cars in a short period of 50 months.

The year 2003 marked the launch of Santro Xing and its premium SUV, Terracan in India. Hyundai rolled out 5,00,000 cars from the Chennai manufacturing facility in 2003. In 2004, Hyundai launched the Getz in the market. The following year, that is, in 2005, it recorded its first export shipment to the UK. Hyundai launched the Tuscon in 2005 in India.

Hyundai Motor’s journey from 2006 to 2010:

In 2006, Hyundai Motors India rolled out the 10,00,000th car from the Chennai Plant and marked the rollout of the 3,00,000 car for export. In 2007, the export figure grew to 4,00,000 units. Later in the year, the Hyundai i10 was launched in India. In 2008, the company inaugurated its second manufacturing facility in Chennai and achieved the milestone of manufacturing the fastest 2 million cars in India. It also launched its premium hatchback Hyundai i20 the same year.

The year 2009 marked the fastest 3 lakh sales milestone of the Hyundai i10 in India. The i20 secured five stars in the Euro NCAP crash test safety rating. Hyundai Motor India reached the milestone of rolling out the fastest 2.5 million cars in India in 2009. In 2010, Hyundai recorded 10 lakh exports. The same year, Hyundai Motors launched Santa Fe in India, and the company recorded a domestic sales of 34,725 units in October.

Hyundai Motor’s journey from 2011 to 2015:

The year 2011 marked the launch of the fluidic Verna in India and later, Eon was launched globally. In 2012, the updated Elantra was launched with the fluidic design language. The following year, Hyundai Motors launched the Hyundai Grand i10. It also rolled out its 5 millionth car the same year. 2014 marked the launch of its sub-4m compact sedan, Xcent, in India and later it introduced the Hyundai Elite i20. In 2015, the company updated its i20 lineup with a new model called the Hyundai i20 Active and updated Verna’s design. This year also marked the entry of Creta in the compact SUV segment.

Hyundai Motor’s journey from 2016 to 2020:

The Creta became an instant hit in the market among consumers. The Hyundai i20 touched the 1 million sales mark in the same year. It also updated the Elantra and Tuscon for the market. In 2017, Creta recorded 10,000 sales in a month. The same year also marked the landmark of 50,028 units of domestic sales in September 2017.

In 2018, Hyundai frequently updated its product lineup in India by introducing new variants and launching new engine options. Hyundai Motor India rolled out the fastest eight millionth car in 19 Years and 6 Months. The Hyundai i20 crossed the 1.3 million mark in terms of global sales in 10 years since it was launched.

The year 2019 started with the company registering the highest-ever cumulative sales of 710,012 units in CY 2018. The automaker also invested $300 million in Ola. Later, the global technology of BlueLink Connectivity was introduced with the launch of Hyundai Venue. In 2019, Hyundai also launched the first fully electric SUV, Kona Electric, in the market.

In 2020, Hyundai Motors updated Xcent and launched it as the Hyundai Aura. The same year, Hyundai updated Creta with a new design language and BS-6 compliant engine and transmission options. Creta crossed 5,00,000 sales in the domestic market and exported over two lakh Creta to global markets in the same year. In addition to this, Hyundai Motors began updating all the cars in its lineup with new BS-6 compliant engines.

Hyundai Motor’s journey from 2021 to 2024:

Hyundai Motors marked 25 years in India and achieved 1 Million ‘Made in India’ SUV milestone. Later, the automaker launched the seven-seater SUV, Alcazar, in the market. The company also launched the N-Line range in India with the launch of the Hyundai i20 N-Line.

In 2022, Hyundai launched the Ioniq5 in the market and updated the Venue and Tuscon. The following year, it updated the Hyundai Verna with a new design and engine options. It also launched the Hyundai Exter in the micro SUV segment.

In 2024, Hyundai first updated Creta with new design features and engine options and later it launched the N-Line version of this SUV. More recently, the company launched the updated Alcazar. In October 2024, the company brought its IPO of Rs 27,870 crores. With this, the company has an offer-for-sale of 14.2 crore shares, which will be sold by Hyundai Motor Global.