Hyundai leads passenger car segment

KATHMANDU, Sept 6: Hyundai, a brand widely loved by Nepali customers lately, is now the market leader, with its cars occupying the top three positions in terms of number of sales.



i10 is the highest selling car in the Nepali market, which is closely followed by Santro and i20. [break]



For a long time, Maruti Suzuki dominated the market.



“It´s the level of customer service we are providing that helped us become the market leader,” said Rupesh Sharma Bhatta, the senior manager for business development and planning at Laxmi Intercontinental, the authorized distributor of Hyundai vehicles for Nepal. With about seven different models of vehicles in the market, Hyundai has more expansion plans to maintain its position.



On the other hand Maruit dealership here is said to be working on new strategies to regain its leadership position. “We have introduced a new scheme for festivals which is expecting to pull more customers.



Apart from that, we are also organizing different programs in different parts of the country to catch customers attention,” said senior executive-sales Anuja Shrestha at Arun Intercontinental, the authorized distributor of Maruti Suzuki vehicles for the market of Nepal.



Maruti Suzuki is selling about nine different models in the market. Shrestha said that because they have many models in the same range, they are facing internal competition apart from the growing external competition.



Both brands have some models in hatchback segment, which is the most competitive and crowded segment in automobile market of Nepal. Both companies are competing on price.



“If you look at the sales including vans, we are still selling more,” said Shrestha. “However, we are making sure we will regain our market position in a year or two.”

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