Seoul, May 15 (PTI): Fuelled by the success of its small car, the Santro, Korean car major Hyundai is planning to develop India as a production and export base for its premium compact car Getz.

“We are well poised to take the Getz to the export market,” B. V. R. Subbu, president, Hyundai Motors India Ltd (HMIL), said while outlining the company's future strategy to develop India as a global production base for its small and mid-size cars.

Till now, Hyundai has been exporting mostly Santro and Accent cars.

Asked why the company had not started exporting the Getz till now, Subbu said, “Unless we achieve a critical level of indigenisation, we cannot become cost competitive and until then we cannot export. Increased indigenisation, coupled with enhanced volumes, would make the Getz cost-effective and thus profitable for the company.”

At present, Hyundai has been manufacturing about 1,500 units of the Getz monthly.

The company is planning to increase the manufacturing capacity to 50,000 cars annually to make India an export hub, he added.

The company is targeting the one-million mark in car sales in the Indian market by March next year and has lined up investments of $700 million to increase production capacity at its plant near Chennai to 400,000 cars annually from the current level of 250,000.

Most of the resources for the expansion project will be generated internally by the Indian subsidiary.

Elaborating on the investment plans, Subbu said the company had undertaken a feasibility study to look into various aspects, including upgrading the capacity at its plant and opening a research and development centre.