Hyundai Motor India introduced its new brand campaign 'Beyond Mobility' that encapsulates the company’s commitment and aspirations for the India of tomorrow. In an interview with Storyboard18, Tarun Garg, director – sales, marketing and service, Hyundai Motor India, talks about the genesis of the campaign and how the South Korean auto giant's future initiatives will be aligned with the newborn brand thought.
Edited Excerpts.
Tell us about 'Beyond Mobility', what does it stand for and how does it reflect what your consumer is looking for? And could you elaborate on how your future initiatives will be aligned with it?
Beyond Mobility is a brand thought that revolves around three tenets: ‘Technology’ which is intelligent; ‘Innovation’ that assures an area of choices for our consumers; ‘Sustainability’ for the betterment of our society and planet as a whole. ‘Beyond Mobility’ is in line with our progress for humanity where we believe time is the most precious element for humanity.
At Hyundai we are a brand that wants to provide quality time to our consumers not only through our products but through our services as well. And we believe that these young trending millennials who are our consumers for today and will be our biggest consumers for tomorrow will be looking for brands that are not only providing convenience but also personalizing solutions while taking care of society and the planet. This will be a key part of our strategy going forward.
In the coming decades, we will be working towards a sustainable future through efforts with product technology, network initiatives, etc. The value of the mother brand will become more important. The future of mobility is guided by our commitment to create a better society for all.
Tell us about your plans on the electric vehicles (EVs) front?
In 2019, when EV was only talked about in India, we were the first OEM to launch the fully electric SUV - Kona. We received some great responses. We have already announced that we are working on a mass-market EV which should be in India in less than 3 years. We believe that to create a mass-market EV, we need to work on the ecosystem. And when I say ecosystem it takes care of both the supply chain part of it as well as the infrastructure part of it.
We need some time to create that ecosystem. When we launched our corporate headquarters at Gurugram, we displayed the Ioniq 5. We already have products and technology at the global level. Now, it is up to us to see and study the market and to see what is the right time to meet the market expectations from the kind of products we want to have and of course the entire ecosystem that goes with it.
This festive season was a good boost for many brands. How did it work for Hyundai and what was the kind of action around the festive season?
We are transitioning from tactical to brand. That is where the ‘Beyond Mobility’ concept comes in. We were on some premium TV programs like ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. The good thing is in the last two years we have refreshed our entire product portfolio. We launched Creta, Verna, i20, recently we launched the N Line, Alcazar, Aura. Across the segments, we have been launching new products and we have seen some great traction. When you compare enquiries vis-à-vis last year in the Navratri period we saw traction of plus 15 percent. When I compare it with 2019, enquiries are up by 17 percent. Unfortunately because of the semiconductor issue retails have become a supply-driven issue. We are making all efforts to improve the situation, but definitely, when it comes to demand traction, we are sitting on a pipeline of close to a hundred thousand customer bookings. The demand actually is very strong and we are confident that customers are looking at Hyundai in a new light.