Chennai, Nov 17 (IANS) The new small car being developed by Hyundai Motor in South Korea on a Rs.800-crore investment will not impact the group's image adversely, say officials of the company's Indian subsidiary.

Hyundai is globally known for manufacturing low-priced big cars while in India, it is known mainly for its small cars like Santro, i10 and i20 as its bigger cars do not scorch the sales graphs.

'Hyundai Motor is developing a car that will be smaller than Santro mainly for the Indian and export markets on an outlay of around Rs.800 crore,' said Han Woo Park, managing director and chief executive of Hyundai Motor India.

'The car is being developed in South Korea,' Park told reporters here Tuesday.

Added Arvind Saxena, senior vice president of marketing and sales: 'There will be no impact on the group's global image. The fact is nearly 80 percent of the Indian car market consists of small cars and our presence will be in that segment.'

Saxena said Hyundai India wasn't planning to launch any big cars. 'We are selling around 60 Sonatas per month. The meltdown has affected the sales of big cars.'

He also contended that the company has retained its 21 percent market share in the compact car segment and would continue doing so even if the number of players went up.

The new small car under development is expected to sport an 800cc engine though company officials declined to comment.

'It is certainly not in the Tata Nano segment. It will be smaller and cheaper than Santro and will be economically viable,' Park said.

According to him, the company will beef up its distribution network adding 46 dealerships to take its network to 320 next year.

Queried on the possibility of shifting i20 model production to Europe where the parent company has two plants, Saxena said the timing was yet to be decided.

'It is right... the free trade agreement between Korea and European Union may push down exports from India,' he added.