Hyundai to introduce Prime series for taxi segment

dZired · 21st April 2017, 17:01

Hyundai India recently launched mid-life facelifts of the Grand i10 hatchback and the Xcent compact sedan. The company has now announced that it will continue to sell the pre-facelift models of these two car lines under a new Prime series, which will be exclusively aimed towards fleet customers and taxi operators. As a result, the Grand i10 Prime and the Xcent Prime will be available only for commercial customers, while their respective facelifted models will be sold only to private customers.

This step has reportedly been taken to provide a significant differentiation between the automaker's products for the commercial segment and those for private buyers. Talking about this decision, Hyundai India's Director of Marketing and Sales, Rakesh Srivastava, has commented that if a product is available in the commercial segment, it loses aspirational value from a private customer's view point. The new Prime series will thus be Hyundai's attempt to avoid such circumstances by offering exclusive products for the commercial as well as private segments.

Currently, only the Grand i10 and Xcent have been added to the Prime series. Hyundai has indicated that more cars might be added to this commercial-exclusive product line-up in the distant future. Interestingly, this is the same approach that Maruti adopted when it launched the second-gen Dzire in India and converted the first-gen model to a taxi-only product with the Dzire Tour moniker.

The commercial customers will thus now be able to only get the pre-facelift Grand i10 and Xcent, which miss on the new cosmetic changes and the larger 1.2-litre, three-cylinder diesel engine. Instead, the two Prime products will still come with the older model's 1.1-litre, three-cylinder CRDi unit.

Hyundai hasn't announced prices of the Grand i10 Prime and Xcent Prime yet. An official announcement about the same is expected to be made in the coming weeks.

Source: Car and Bike

Hyundai to introduce Prime series for taxi segment-hyundaigrandi10prime.jpg

Hyundai to introduce Prime series for taxi segment-hyundaixcentprime.jpg

Link to Team-BHP News

RaghuVis · 21st April 2017, 17:19

A question which I always wanted to ask. Maybe Little bit off topic.
Can I buy the new Xcent or Grand I10 and register it as a yellow board. Is there any rule that companies can use to ensure they don't get registered as yellow board?
The question is valid Vice Versa as well with respect to the soon to be released Prime getting registered in White boards.

The main idea of this question is to understand if a manufacturer can decide how my vehicle should be registered as.

amansanc · 21st April 2017, 17:26

Smart move by Hyundai to keep the numbers high while keeping all the customers happy. Taxi buyers are happy to get cheaper variants with essential features while private owners are happy that the taxi variants are visually very different.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaghuVis

A question which I always wanted to ask. Maybe Little bit off topic.
Can I buy the new Xcent or Grand I10 and register it as a yellow board. Is there any rule that companies can use to ensure they don't get registered as yellow board?
The question is valid Vice Versa as well with respect to the soon to be released Prime getting registered in White boards.

The main idea of this question is to understand if a manufacturer can decide how my vehicle should be registered as.

Technically, no manufacturer can prevent a customer from registering the car as a taxi. That's how we have varied types of taxis even if the numbers are less. One can always buy the car from the dealer on temporary registration and register the car themselves as they want. However, in reality, dealers are reluctant to give such cars on temporary registration. This is how brands prevent both the listed cases. Not a legal way but a jugaad way.

qr20de · 21st April 2017, 18:47

Great way for companies to get rid of old stock and old technology

The fleet vehicle service becoming a serious business, for both OEMs and dealers. Maruti got the headstart with the Dzire and then the Ritz but we're definitely going to see a lot more models come out this way.

RICK004 · 22nd April 2017, 10:14

This is a audacious but excellent and well thought out move by Hyundai India. This segmentation is good for OEM's to focus on retails and at the same time analyze market trends better. Nissan did the same thing with the NV 200 (Evalia) during 2010-11 in New York/USA markets and have tasted significant acceptability and success! Going forward, expect product development to focus on features specific to rear passenger/traveler. I am sure we will see similar segmentation of commercial-passenger vehicles especially by mass-market brands soon.

21st April 2017, 17:01	#1
dZired Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 1,868 Thanked: 7,972 Times View My Garage	Hyundai to introduce Prime series for taxi segment Hyundai India recently launched mid-life facelifts of the Grand i10 hatchback and the Xcent compact sedan. The company has now announced that it will continue to sell the pre-facelift models of these two car lines under a new Prime series, which will be exclusively aimed towards fleet customers and taxi operators. As a result, the Grand i10 Prime and the Xcent Prime will be available only for commercial customers, while their respective facelifted models will be sold only to private customers. This step has reportedly been taken to provide a significant differentiation between the automaker's products for the commercial segment and those for private buyers. Talking about this decision, Hyundai India's Director of Marketing and Sales, Rakesh Srivastava, has commented that if a product is available in the commercial segment, it loses aspirational value from a private customer's view point. The new Prime series will thus be Hyundai's attempt to avoid such circumstances by offering exclusive products for the commercial as well as private segments. Currently, only the Grand i10 and Xcent have been added to the Prime series. Hyundai has indicated that more cars might be added to this commercial-exclusive product line-up in the distant future. Interestingly, this is the same approach that Maruti adopted when it launched the second-gen Dzire in India and converted the first-gen model to a taxi-only product with the Dzire Tour moniker. The commercial customers will thus now be able to only get the pre-facelift Grand i10 and Xcent, which miss on the new cosmetic changes and the larger 1.2-litre, three-cylinder diesel engine. Instead, the two Prime products will still come with the older model's 1.1-litre, three-cylinder CRDi unit. Hyundai hasn't announced prices of the Grand i10 Prime and Xcent Prime yet. An official announcement about the same is expected to be made in the coming weeks. Source: Car and Bike Link to Team-BHP News Last edited by dZired : 21st April 2017 at 17:10.
	(8) Thanks

21st April 2017, 17:19	#2
RaghuVis BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India Posts: 780 Thanked: 5,209 Times	Re: Hyundai to introduce Prime series for taxi segment A question which I always wanted to ask. Maybe Little bit off topic. Can I buy the new Xcent or Grand I10 and register it as a yellow board. Is there any rule that companies can use to ensure they don't get registered as yellow board? The question is valid Vice Versa as well with respect to the soon to be released Prime getting registered in White boards. The main idea of this question is to understand if a manufacturer can decide how my vehicle should be registered as.
	() Thanks

21st April 2017, 18:47	#4
qr20de BHPian Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: NBO,HYD,MAA Posts: 230 Thanked: 496 Times	Re: Hyundai to introduce Prime series for taxi segment Great way for companies to get rid of old stock and old technology The fleet vehicle service becoming a serious business, for both OEMs and dealers. Maruti got the headstart with the Dzire and then the Ritz but we're definitely going to see a lot more models come out this way.
	(1) Thanks

22nd April 2017, 10:14	#5
RICK004 Newbie Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Mumbai/Delhi Posts: 17 Thanked: 24 Times	Re: Hyundai to introduce Prime series for taxi segment This is a audacious but excellent and well thought out move by Hyundai India. This segmentation is good for OEM's to focus on retails and at the same time analyze market trends better. Nissan did the same thing with the NV 200 (Evalia) during 2010-11 in New York/USA markets and have tasted significant acceptability and success! Going forward, expect product development to focus on features specific to rear passenger/traveler. I am sure we will see similar segmentation of commercial-passenger vehicles especially by mass-market brands soon.
	(1) Thanks