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Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) has announced it will manufacture and launch a diesel variant of the i10 next year. This would follow the recent global launch of the i10 in India. Hyundai officials also announced that exports of the diesel i10 would commence from India earlier than the domestic launch.

‘We will start manufacturing the diesel (1.1 litre engine) variant of i10 sometime in 2008 and would be first exported and later on will launch here for the domestic market,’ Managing Director, HMIL, HS Lheem said, adding that the company will also double its production to six lakh units per year from 2009, thereby increasing the export also by three lakh vehicles a year.

Lheem said the company will also rev up its R&D centres in the country and will invest $40 million in its Hyderabad centre with another in-line in Chennai. All these steps would help the company account for 30 percent of Hyundai’s global production by next year.

The i10, which was codenamed PA and was much awaited is positioned between Hyundai’s most selling Santro Xing and Getz Prime, and will be exported to around 70 countries. ‘We will continue to export Santro together with the i10 in countries like Colombia, Mexico and South Africa. Santro will be positioned in low-end segment and i10 in high-end of lower segment,’ Lheem said adding the company expects to export about two lakh units next year, with both the Santro and i10 contributing equal numbers.

Priced between Rs 3.39 lakh and Rs 4.90 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi), HMIL expects to sell about 1.5 lakh units of the new 1.1 litre petrol car, which will be pitched against the Maruti’s Wagon R, Zen Estillo, Swift, GM’s Chevrolet Spark and Aveo U-VA.

The i10 which is the first car from Hyundai Motors (HMC) that made an international debut in India is expected to do about 9,000 to 10,000 units a month, said Lheem.