In an effort to reduce import duties and logistics costs for the European market, Hyundai’s Indian subsidiary – Hyundai Motors India – will start shipping complete knock-down (CKD) kits of its three-door i20 model from its plant near Chennai for assembly at the Assan Hyundai Motor plant near Istanbul in Turkey.
The company is reported to begin with shipments of 50,000 units in June this year, a move instigated by the high demand for the vehicle in Europe, but has said that India will remain the main production hub for the i20.
As well as in Chennai, Hyundai is making the model at its Indian subsidiary’s second plant in Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu) for domestic and export markets but labour unrest at the plant there last year provoked the carmaker to announce it was moving production of the i20 to Europe.
Employees staged an 18-day strike at Sriperumbudur in May last year over demands for union recognition and pay increases.
The announcement did not affect production of the other models Hyundai makes at the plant, including the Santro, Accent and Getz.
Last year the Korean carmaker was also considering moving production of the model to its plant in the Nosovice, Czech Republic, but a recent announcement in the Hindustan Times now confirms Turkey as the location.
As yet the logistics provider for shipment of the kits has not been confirmed.
However, Hyundai-Kia’s logistics subsidiary, Glovis, operates a special CKD Logistics business unit dedicated to distribution of automobile parts for overseas production and recently invested in more ships for deep-sea movements of Hyundai vehicles (read more here).
