The Hindu Business Line : Shahrukh Khan back with the Santro Xing

FOR those who had watched the teaser ads on television - film actor Shahrukh Khan having to surrender the keys of the Hyundai Santro, for which he was the brand ambassador to a Mr Kim - and were wondering what had happened to Shahrukh's contract with Hyundai Motor India, the Hindi actor is back.

There were many who were left wondering after watching the teaser ads whether the Indian subsidiary of the Korean company would go in for a new brand ambassador, even as it was clear that the best-selling Santro was in for a makeover.

Shahrukh is pleasantly surprised when Mr Kim returns with a Santro and hands over the key to the actor. Shahrukh grabs the key and zooms away in the second generation of the compact car, leaving Mr Kim stranded on the road, much as he was left stranded when Mr Kim took away the key of the car from him earlier.

With the launch of the Santro Xing, sporting distinctly European looks, Hyundai Motor India will take the car to the smaller towns too, hoping to lure rural customers to buy the vehicle.

For this, the company plans to have nearly 1,000 service points across the country mainly to give confidence to the prospective buyers that help is at hand if they face a problem with the car. Hyundai Motor India has tied up with the Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation to position the trained technicians at the petrol filling stations belonging to the two oil companies. Hyundai Motor India, according to the company, will train the technicians to carry out minor repairs and, if need be, summon help from the authorised stations or dealers.

It will be spending about Rs 70 crore on advertisement and marketing this year, for the three cars it makes and sells in the country - the Santro, the Accent and the Sonata.

The company is convinced that product lifecycles will shrink further - the Santro itself has undergone two changes since its launch in September 1998.

The first was the launch of the Santro Zip Plus in March 2002 with a peppier 1.1 litre engine, replacing the one litre engine with which the car was launched. Between the launch of the Santro and the Santro Zip Plus, the car had gone through some cosmetic changes with a new look vehicle coming out in July 2001, barely a month after the 200,000th car rolled out of Hyundai Motor India's Irungattukottai plant. And, the launch of the Santro Xing comes within a fortnight of the 400,000th car rolling out of the assembly line.

With exports of the Santro Xing to Europe due to start shortly, success in this market will be crucial for Hyundai Motor India's plans, according to the company.

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