Calcutta, Aug. 30: Hyundai Motor India Ltd plans to take on market leader Maruti with its small car in the 800cc segment.

The car, which will be rolled out in the next three years, is being jointly developed by the company’s research teams in Hyderabad and Korea.

“The small car market is going strong and will continue to do so. Our small car will be meant for both the domestic and the export market. However, we neither have the technology nor any plan to fight the Nano,” said H.S. Lheem, managing director and CEO of Hyundai Motor India, here today. The auto major has set a target of 22 per cent market share this year.

The company will showcase its next model, the i20, at the Paris auto show in October. “We expect to bring the i20 to the Indian market by the end of this calendar year. The price would be at a 25 per cent premium over i10,” said Lheem.

At present, Hyundai is selling about 20,000 i10s per month, making it the highest selling model for the company.

Hyundai sold two lakh passenger cars in the domestic market last calendar year and exported one lakh units.

The Korean company’s Chennai facility has a total capacity of six lakh units per annum. Hyundai will invest $50 million to set up a unit for exporting completely-knocked down kits to countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.

Hyundai expects domestic sales to be low in the second half of the year because of soaring input costs and rising interest rates.

In the first half of this calendar year, 58 per cent of Hyundai’s sales were in the domestic market with exports making up the rest. In the second half, Hyundai expects the ratio to be reversed with 45 per cent coming from the domestic market and the rest from exports.