Hyundai Motor is ready to launch Hyundai Pa, the latest compact car from Hyundai in India. India will be the first country in which the Pa will be launched. However, Pa is only a codename for the latest compact hatchback - the actual name will be announced much later. The pictures and photos of Hyundai Pa are not available yet. The car is expected to be priced in the Rs 5 lakh range. There has been no confirmation of the price level from the company, though.

The Hyundai Pa is expected to replace the Hyundai Santro, the wildly successful tall boy car from Hyundai. However, it remains to be seen of the Santro will be phased out, since Hyundai Accent, which was expected to be replaced by the Hyundai Verna in India is still in production. Instead of replacing the Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Verna has supplemented the product.

Hyundai has been rather forced into launching the Pa. After the Santro, Hyundai never produced a car which was a mass seller. Santro came out in different variants from time to time, but in the mean time, the Indica established a strong market share, while the Maruti small cars clung on to their leadership position. The Hyundai Getz, the Getz prime and now the Getz prime diesel never managed to clock the big numbers. Hence the strategy to launch the Hyundai Pa in India for the first time.

The Hyundai Pa is expected to have a 1.2 litre engine. The specifications of the car will be such that the car can take advantage of the duty sops available for small cars in India. The Hyundai Pa launch is expected to take place some time in early to mid-2008.

Hyundai is existing Chennai plant is working three shifts and churning out 3 lakh cars per year. A large number of Hyundai cars produced from Chennai are exported. Hyundai is planning to set up a second plant at a cost of 500 million dollars to double the capacity to 6 lakh cars per annum.

Watch this space for more.