Thursday, June 23 2005 20:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In the ongoing tug-of-war for supremacy in the Indian car market, Hyundai blinked first before archrival and auto leader Maruti Udyog by withdrawing 'temporarily' its advertising brochure 'Xing ahead of the Swift' in response to a legal notice served last week.

Maruti, which had charged Hyundai with engaging in "false misleading and deceptive" campaign against its latest model in India - Swift - was, however, not satisfied by Hyundai's response and would shortly announce its next course of action.

When contacted, a Hyundai Spokesperson told sources in New Delhi, "We have given our response to Maruti," but declined to elaborate.

On whether Hyundai had apologised and if it had withdrawn the brochure aimed at asserting supremacy of its model Santro Xing over Swift, she said, "We did not make public the notice sent by Maruti and now also we are not going to make public our response."

A Maruti spokesperson told sources in New Delhi that, "MUL has received the reply. We are studying the content for future course of action. He, however, did not respond if Maruti was satisfied with Hyundai's reply and if the matter would now be laid to rest.

After sending a legal notice to Hyundai on June 16 with a seven-day deadline to "apologise and withdraw the campaign", MUL Managing Director Jagdish Khattar had said that his company had informed Hyundai that necessary action would be taken in case of non-compliance.

In its response, Hyundai made a point-by-point reply to the legal notice served through solicitor firm Amarchand Mangaldas but Maruti has decided to harden its stance in the absence of a categorical apology, sources said.

The solicitor for Maruti had demanded a public clarification from Hyundai and asked for a "written undertaking within seven days of receipt of the notice that you will henceforth not disparage their (MUL's) products in any manner whatsoever."

The solicitor firm had said that Hyundai's advertisement was, "False, misleading and deceptive and falsely represents that Swift is not a good car. Hyundai, has, therefore, disparaged the goods of MUL and has committed unfair and restrictive trade practices against MUL and is accordingly liable in law for this."

The trouble between the two companies started after Maruti launched the 1.3-litre Swift, Suzuki's world car, in May with an introductory price beginning Rs 3.87 lakh. This put the fate of Hyundai's 'Getz', also selling in the same segment, in jeorpardy as the company's product costed much higher, upwards of Rs 4.5 lakh.

However, Hyundai president B V R Subbu had dismissed this argument and said that Swift was not a competitor to Getz, but rather to its flagship car Santro. The company followed this by slashing the price of Santro, apart from releasing the campaign, which raised objections from Maruti.

In their notice, Amarchand Mangaldas also stated that comparison between Santro Xing and Swift was not based on objective, relevant or verifiable material.

"This is nothing but an attempt to discredit and denegrade MUL's product and to portray it in a derogatory manner by stating that Swift is a product of low value or merit," it said.