Chennai: Hyundai Motor India Ltd expects to export 95,000 cars in the year against 70,000 last year, according to company officials. With about Rs1,325 crore in export earnings in the first six months of this year, the company is confident of ending the year with an export income of Rs2,700 crore, up from Rs1,700 crore last year.

The Hyundai Motor India''s president, B.V.R. Subbu, pointed out that the company started exports in December 1999 when it sent 20 cars to Nepal and reached the 1,00,000th mark in October 2004. Within a year, it crossed the 2,00,000th mark.

The company would also start shipping the Atos Prime to the UK in November. It exports cars to about 60 countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa, West Asia and Asia.

Of the 1,35,165 cars exported from India in 2004, Hyundai Motor India accounted for 85,000, he said and added that a majority of the company''s exports were going to "the most discerning markets" of Europe and Latin America, including the Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement) area of Mexico. This was the best possible comment on the manufacturing standards of the company and its vendors, he asserted.

With exports growing - Hyundai Motor India hopes that it will be able to export two lakh cars a year once its expanded capacity is on stream - the company is confident of fulfilling its obligations under the Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme (under which imports of machinery are allowed with an export obligation of a specified value within an eight-year period) well ahead of schedule.

He said the company would launch a sedan - Verna - in the second or third quarter of next year. This would be slotted between the Accent and the Elantra, and probably be priced in the Rs7 lakh to Rs9 lakh range.