Hyundai Motor India will soon launch a sedan in place of the Accent, which it recently stopped selling in the domestic market and step up production of the Grand i10 hatchback it launched last month.

R. Sethuraman, director, finance, said the company pulled the Accent out of the domestic market three months back but continues to export it to some markets. This gives it an opportunity to launch another product in the local market.

Sub-four-metre sedans, including the Accent, are a fast-selling product with industry sales estimated at 22,000 units a month and growing strongly. Hyundai Motor will soon offer a product for this segment.

In the pipeline are a compact SUV and a MPV, he said.

Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president, marketing and sales, said in 45 days after the launch of the Grand, there have been over 20,000 bookings. Last month over 8,400 cars were sold and this month, the production will be stepped up to match the sales to over 10,000.

There is a waiting time of four to eight weeks for delivery, he said.

At the event, in which actor and brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan participated, B. S. Seo, managing director and CEO, said the roll out of five million cars in 15 years is an unprecedented performance.

With production capacity of 680,000 passenger cars a year which can be increased to over 700,000 with minor adjustments, the company is keeping a close watch on the trends before considering additional investments.

Sethuraman said the company has invested over Rs. 130 billion (US$ 2.1 billion) in the car plant and drawn investments of over Rs. 70 billion by its vendors and suppliers.

It has generated over 9,500 jobs directly.

It is the second largest car manufacturer and the largest exporter from India with two million cars exported of the total production of five million, he said.