Hyundai Motor India has reiterated its commitment to the small car segment with 3.4 lakh compact cars being sold in 2022.

While the hatchback segment has contracted in the last four years from 46 per cent of the passenger car sales to 35 per cent, compact cars are still selling in high numbers.

Tarun Garg, chief operating officer, HMIL, said: “As a country we are becoming younger and aspirational. More young customers are buying cars. They want features in their cars. The premium hatch segment and the segment in which the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios is, will not wither away. And Hyundai will be where customers are.”

Maruti Suzuki India chairman R.C. Bhargava has repeatedly warned that the small car segment is shrinking and rising prices and regulatory norms are squeezing the entry-level buyers out of the passenger car industry.

Hyundai had stopped production of its entry level cars like the Hyundai Eon in 2019 and the new Hyundai Santro that it relaunched in 2018 and soon enough withdrew from the market last year.

However, the South Korean biggie that has tasted success in the Indian market with its strong SUV lineup of Creta, Venue, the Venue N Line, the Alcazar and Tucson, will be present in the hatch segment with the Nios, i20, and the i20 N Line.

“About 19 to 20 per cent of our national sales comes from the Nios. So we will continue to be present in the hatch segment, which is still very strong and where the Nios has a 31 per cent market share. It is a key model for us and has sold 106,000 units last year,” said Garg. The i10, launched in 2007, has 9.1 million customers so far.