Our range ensures lower fuel consumption, lower maintenance costs, and thereby higher operating profits.
Eunsoo Lee Managing Director Hyundai Construction Equipment India. Pvt. Ltd Hyundai excavators are of latest technology with special features, ensuring lower fuel consumption, lower maintenance costs and there by higher operating profits. “We have a whole range of
Eunsoo Lee
Managing Director
Hyundai Construction Equipment India. Pvt. Ltd
Hyundai excavators are of latest technology with special features, ensuring lower fuel consumption, lower maintenance costs and there by higher operating profits. “We have a whole range of mini excavator models ranging from 1.5T to 5T which are 9th generation machines that have special features viz. extended service intervals of 5000 hours, easy to reach ground level service points etc,” states – Eunsoo Lee
Managing Director, Hyundai Construction Equipment India. Pvt. Ltd.
The demand for mini excavators in India has to date remained very small. What do you think are the reasons?
India still has unskilled labour availability in most part of the country. The small works are done by labourers in India where as in matured construction equipment markets these jobs are done using mini excavators. In highly educated states like Kerala, the trend is similar. There is good amount of mini excavator sales in Kerala.
What is the current market size in terms of value and units sales?
The current size is ~1000 units per annum, which is likely to grow @ 8 to 10% YOY. The growth drivers are mainly the urban development be it the foundation excavation for housing, cutting and levelling of narrow city roads, ditch cleaning for storm water drain and even optic fibre cabling.
The trend of using various attachments with compact excavators has not caught up. What is your take on this?
As mentioned earlier, one reason is the availability of manual labour. There is an excessive use of backhoe loaders which has been a challenge for the better growth. But with the market maturing and customers preferring the specialized right equipment for the right job, this segment will grow. The challenge is the lack of stringent labour laws in India.
Brief us on the range offered by Hyundai?
We have a whole range of mini excavator models ranging from 1.5T to 5T. All are zero tail swing and are being used in the developed countries of Europe and America. In India we have launched 3.5T mini excavator with zero tail swing in Kerala.
Could you throw some light on the rental scenario of compact excavators?
This segment will definitely grow through the rental business. Individual customers who hire the machines on hourly basis are very popular. With more awareness and visibility of mini excavator advantages as a specialized machine, there will be some amount of substitution of the backhoe loader market. The challenge is that these customers are in the unorganized sector and are small time investors who may anytime move out of this business.
How service / maintenance-friendly are your range of compact excavators?
Our products are easy to service and apart from that we have a wide network of 32 dealers and 200 outlets to support the customers with parts and trained service engineers. These are the 9th generation machines that have special features viz. extended service intervals of 5000 hours, easy to reach ground level service points etc.
Could you brief us on the various features?
As mentioned above, the extended service reduces the hourly maintenance costs and the durability of the components, the Hyundai brand increases the resale value.
What is the trend with regard to zero tail swing models in India?
In India so far there is no differentiation or specific advantages that zero tail swing models get. The advantages are that they can work in very confined spaces like road side and are also safer as the structure of the equipment does not protrude out of the track width.
With the role out of the next set of emission norms the price of backhoe is expected to go high that may give an edge to compact excavator. What is your take on this?
There would be some edge but excavators are also soon being brought under the higher emission standards which would increase the cost of these also. However there is a distinct advantage of using an excavator over a backhoe loader that will remain the main reason for shift.
What differentiates your range of compact excavators from competition?
Hyundai excavators are of latest technology with special features, ensuring lower fuel consumption, lower maintenance costs and there by higher operating profits.
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