Three decades after South Korea’s Hyundai entered India, Nisha Ajani counts herself among the millions of drivers whose lives were transformed by cars that offered something different to a market with few choices.
Hyundai’s rise in India from being an unfamiliar foreign brand to an automative powerhouse alongside strong local competitors reflects India’s economic liberalization, its changes in consumer tastes and its rapid emergence as a global manufacturing power.
Hyundai is now planning to build even bigger in India, with a commitment for a $15.5 billion investment in India through 2032 to build it into a global hub.
“India is one of our most strategic markets globally, serving as a key manufacturing, export, innovation and R&D hub,” Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung told Newsweek. “Beyond automobiles, Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest in infrastructure sectors such as energy to achieve mutual growth. As EV adoption accelerates in India, we will also collaborate with local companies in the electric vehicle and battery sectors to develop EV ecosystem and local supply chain.”
...
It has come a long way since Ajani bought her first Hyundai Santro: a compact hatchback with an unusually high roof, spacious cabin and interior that felt more contemporary than other vehicles on the market.
It was the late 1990s. She had just gotten her first job in the western Indian state of Maharashtra and her choices were limited given what she could afford. There were the imposing Hindustan Ambassador and Premier Padmini beloved by a previous generation. There was also the affordable Maruti 800 hatchback from the Suzuki-backed company. None of them seemed quite right. Then she saw the Santro.
“Here was a car I could manage comfortably, one that seemed to reflect the life I was beginning to build,” Ajani told Newsweek. “That car transformed my sense of confidence and independence, influencing how I carried myself and interacted with the world.”
It reflected the India of the time too, a market undergoing its biggest economic transformation in decades and with car ownership becoming an expression of upward mobility for a growing class of consumers.
Symbol of the times
Hyundai bet on India after liberalization began in 1991. Industrial controls and restrictions on foreign ownership were gradually dismantled. Sectors that had been closed to foreigners were opened up and that included cars. Ford, General Motors, Honda and Daewoo were also trying to get a slice of the market—although they never achieved Hyundai’s breakthrough.
Then there were the domestic competitors. Tata Motors was developing its Indica to compete with newcomers, but the undisputed leader of India’s passenger-car market was Maruti with its 800 model, known for affordability, low maintenance costs and dependability, and its premium Zen. Maruti also had a trusted support network.
Hyundai Motor India, incorporated on May 6, 1996, needed to find something different. That was the Santro, launched on September 23, 1998 specifically for India. The name was derived from the French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez. The aim was to give it a touch of style.
Its tall-boy design, rounded body and upright seating position distinguished it from the conventional hatchbacks. Generous headroom and a practical cabin made it particularly attractive to families navigating increasingly congested cities. It also brought in modern fuel-injection technology and other conveniences. The Santro zipDrive, introduced in May 2000, added features such as power steering.
Hyundai also needed an identity that Indian families would embrace.
Bollywood magic
That was where Shah Rukh Khan (known as SRK) entered the picture. In the 1990s, he was emerging as one of India’s biggest movie stars, with an appeal that extended across generations for his roles in romantic blockbusters. He offered more than just celebrity recognition.
...
He was a man of the time who could make an unfamiliar Korean brand appear fashionable, trustworthy and relevant to a new generation and across families.
“We wanted to address a modern, aspirational family consumer. SRK had the style quotient for that,” B.V.R. Subbu, the former president of Hyundai Motor India and author of the book Santro: The Car That Built a Company, told Newsweek.
Hyundai sold 69,501 Santros during the 1999-2000 financial year, records show. That was still far behind the 189,061 for the Maruti 800 at the same time, but it showed that Maruti’s dominance was not unshakable and seemed remarkable for a company that had previously been unknown to Indians.
Yet behind the growing commercial success, Hyundai’s Indian operation had faced financial difficulties that almost saw it acquired by its rival. The Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s hit South Korean conglomerates just as Hyundai’s Indian arm needed investment.
“It came really close,” Subbu said. But by 1999, Hyundai India was profitable.
Growth over the decades was steady. Thirty years after Hyundai established itself in India, it is a major exporter as well as manufacturer. Its total domestic sales have reached nearly 10 million vehicles, while total sales have reached over 13.5 million vehicles including exports to 150 countries.
...
“This demonstrates India’s ability to convert long-term foreign investment into manufacturing scale, exports and enterprise value,” Nivruti Rai, managing director and CEO of Invest India, the country’s national investment promotion agency, told Newsweek.
Hyundai’s vehicles have evolved substantially with the Indian market. Its Creta, Venue, i20 and Verna reflect changing demand for SUVs, greater comfort and increasingly sophisticated technology. The Santro was discontinued in 2015 and underwent a brief revival from 2018 to 2022, but it no longer had its original pull.
Industrial ecosystem
Manufacturing has expanded beyond Chennai to a second facility in Talegaon, near Pune, which started in 2025. Hyundai group has 24,000 employees in India. Over its first three decades it invested some $4.3 billion—putting in perspective the magnitude of Hyundai’s new bet on India as the world’s fastest growing major economy and with more than 1.4 billion people.
“Hyundai understood Indian aspirations, not just affordability. Indians wanted the comfort, styling and features of global cars at Indian price points,” said Rai, also underlining how important its local manufacturing had been far beyond simply building its own vehicles with 82% localization and over 1,400 Indian suppliers.
“It built an ecosystem, not just a factory,” he said.
That supplier ecosystem is particularly important to India’s ambitions to become a larger player in global manufacturing.
The next challenge is to move further into the development and ownership of advanced technologies.
“Hyundai’s next chapter illustrates India’s opportunity, 26 planned product introductions, production capacity approaching 1.1 million vehicles annually, and a target of 90% local content by 2030,” Rai said. “India must move from localisation to ownership of technology, from assembly to innovation, and from domestic scale to global leadership in electric mobility, batteries, electronics and artificial intelligence. Our ambition must be to invent, design and manufacture in India for the world.”
India’s rise as an auto-making power strengthens its industrial links to the United States, where Hyundai is marking 40 years since its first vehicle sale and has a $26 billion expansion plan between 2025 and 2028.
India exported $24 billion in auto parts in fiscal 2025-26 and 26 percent of those went to the United States, the biggest single market for its auto parts exports, according to the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA). Euisun Chung
That underlines the importance of tariff and trade negotiations between the countries, including for companies such as Hyundai that have important operations in both.
Growing competition
As Hyundai enters its fourth decade in India, competition has only become more intense.
...
Domestic manufacturers have strengthened their positions, SUVs have reshaped purchasing preferences and electrification is forcing automakers to reconsider product development and manufacturing investments.
Hyundai’s market share is fourth behind Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra, according to September 2026 sales figures, although it comes in second including Kia, in which Hyundai has a controlling stake.
“Hyundai India was built on humility in listening to the consumer’s voice, a deep understanding of technology trends and integrity in dealing with all stakeholders,” Subbu said. “Today’s management should honestly score itself on all three. And remember, integrity is a binary, and its absence cannot be hidden.”
For Ajani, the Santro’s legacy remains intensely personal. She had her car for a decade. Now her children are Hyundai drivers—though the favored model is the Verna: a popular subcompact sedan.
For Hyundai, the breakthrough helped build a business whose ambitions now extend well beyond the Indian roads where the Santro first made its name.
“Today, we are advancing from ‘Make in India’ to ‘Design in India’ and ‘Innovate in India,’” said Hyundai Group Executive Chair Chung, emphasizing the company’s commitment to another three decades in India. “Through these investments, we will create more employment opportunities and work together with our partners and stakeholders to support India’s continued industrial development.”