HYUNDAI Motor India (HMIL) may phase out Tucson sports utility vehicle (SUV) as it

RELATED ARTICLES India, China hold talks to step up economic cooperation Sluggish world will ensure more FII inflows into Indian equities Kashmir visa row stokes India, China tensions India says US visa issue may be solved outside WTO Hyundai cars to cost 1.2% more

drives in the Santa Fe SUV next year.

The decision to review the future of Tucson in the Indian market comes on the heels of high competition from other models in the same segment. Only three units of the model have been sold in the past four months.

"We might change our SUV model from Tucson to Santa Fe in the Indian market next year. We will try to locally assemble the Santa Fe at our Chennai plant," HMIL MD HS Lheem told Financial Chronicle. He, however, added the company has not taken a confirmed decision as of yet whether to discontinue the Tucson model or continue selling it with the Santa Fe.

Lheem said Tucson faces stiff competition because the company pays high import duty on the model, while most of the other SUVs are assembled in the country.

Tucson competes with other SUVs in the Rs 15-25 lakh segment such as Ford's Endeavour, Toyota's Fortuner, GM's Captiva and Mitsubishi's Pajero and Outlander models. Tucson is Hyundai's only offering in the SUV segment, as it phased out its Terracan SUV earlier in the year.

Hyundai Motor's new Sonata model that was showcased at the Frankfurt motor show last month might also make it to the Indian roads soon.

"Hyundai has introduced the model in the global market. Sooner or later, we should also follow, but we have not yet decided on the date," he said. The local unit of HMC sells Sonata Transform here. The company has sold 238 units of the model between AprilSeptember this year, compared with 217 in the same period of the previous year.

In January 2010's auto expo, HMIL plans to display a car meant for sale in the country. "We are going to have a surprising product on display for the Indian markets at the auto expo," he said, without divulging further details.

Meanwhile, HMIL on Wednesday also inaugurated its 16th dealership in Delhi NCR region, reaching 271 dealer showrooms across India which the company said would ramp up to 300 by the end of the year.