Kolkata, Oct 18 (IANS): Buoyed by the launch of its new small car Eon in India, South Korean auto major Hyundai Tuesday said it is eyeing 9-10 percent sales growth in the country this fiscal.

"I think the car industry as a whole in India will grow at a rate of less than 10 percent in this financial year," Hyundai Motor India Ltd senior vice president (Finance and Corporate Affairs) R. Sethuraman told reporters after the launch of the Eon here.

"And the company is looking at 9 to 10 percent sales growth in this period," he added.

The company had sold about 6.03 lakh cars last fiscal (including exports). It exports cars, manufactured at the two plants located at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, to over 115 countries.

Currently, the company's market share is 18.3 percent in the country.

"We expect that the market share will be about 20 percent at the end of this fiscal," Sethuraman said.

He informed that after the launch of the new car Oct 13, the company was getting good bookings. "In the last four days we have crossed over 5,000 new car bookings. When the cars will be on road, the bookings will improve further."

On how the company is looking to seize the opportunity to increase its market share following the strike in Maruti's Manesar plant, Sethuraman said: "It (market share) may increase...but I am not competing with Maruti in the small car segment."

"It (Eon) is a unique car in the unique segment...it is the high end of the lower segment. So I am not saying about any competition."

Asked that experts are saying that the new small car of the company is pitted against Maruti's Alto, he said, "One to one you cannot compare it because in terms of design and engine capacity the two cars are totally different."

The official informed that the company had invested close to Rs.900 crore on developing the small new car, including design and marketing.

The company is looking at selling 1.4 lakh units to 1.5 lakh units of Eon annually and will export the car, mostly to South America and South Africa, from next year.

On expansion of its manufacturing plants in Tamil Nadu, Sethuraman said the company has planned to increase the capacity from 6.3 lakh units to 6.7 lakh units per annum by a "minimum" investment.

The company will launch 10 new cars in the country by 2015, he added.