Hyundai chief Euisun Chung visits India for further cooperation

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung visited India to inspect the automaker's plants and meet with Indian governmental officials to discuss further cooperation in the world's third-largest auto market.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, right, inspects the company's research center in India on Tuesday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung visited India to inspect the automaker's plants and meet with Indian governmental officials to discuss further cooperation in the world's third-largest auto market.

Chung inspected Hyundai Motor and Kia's research center in Hyderabad and Hyundai's manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost part of India.

Chung also held a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin Tuesday and promised further cooperation between the two parties.

The talk came as Hyundai in May announced an investment of 200 billion rupees ($2.45 billion) in India over the next 10 years to build a battery pack assembly plant and 100 charging stations for electric vehicles in Tamil Nadu.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, center, inspects the company's research center in India on Tuesday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

India has the world’s third-largest auto market after China and the United States and ahead of Japan. Around 4.76 million vehicles were sold in India alone last year, up 25.7 percent.

Hyundai Motor has gradually expanded sales in India in recent years, and is currently in second place after Maruti Suzuki, according to data from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

"Supplying quality products in a timely manner is more important than anything in order to become the first mover in the fast-growing Indian auto market," Chung said. "For this to happen, Hyundai's research center in India must lead Hyundai's growth."

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]