Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Tuesday re-introduced its once popular hatchback Santro in the local market.

Built completely new, the South Korean auto major aims to grab a 30 per cent market share with the new offering in the compact segment that it lost when it phased out the “tall boy” in December 2014. “The all new Santro will create a demand in the market,” HMIL managing director & CEO Y.K. Koo said.

Admitting that phasing out the car three years back had been a mistake, Koo said, “The Santro was a gift to the Indian market. We lost out on market share in the compact segment these three years when we could not replace the Santro with another product. We realised this in 2015 and decided to bring back the Santro. It took three years to develop a new car”.

Koo said that Hyundai wants to garner 30 per cent of the compact car market with the new offer. “The market size is 30,000 units per month and we will be happy to do 8,000 to 10,000 units.”

The new Santro will compete with the likes of Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR, Celerio and Tata Motors’ Tiago in the mid-compact segment.

While sales in the entry-level car segment are flat in the top 10 metro cities of the country, Koo said, “The Santro will sell as the first car in rural markets and as a replacement car in urban markets.”

Hyundai had invested over $100 million in the all-new Santro, which was developed under the code name AH2, over the last three years.

The new car, which is powered by a 4-cylinder 1.1 litre petrol engine, comes with automated manual transmission (AMT) and factory-fitted CNG fuel options.

The manual variants of the car, including two CNG powered trims, are priced between Rs 3.89-5.45 lakh. The two variants with automated gear shift are priced at Rs 5.18 lakh and Rs 5.46 lakh.