[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor on Oct. 6 said it has clinched a deal to provide 3,500 i40 diesel taxis to Singapore next year.

South Korea’s largest automaker signed a contract with Singapore’s taxi operator ComfortDelgro Group in Seoul, with Jang Won-shin, general manager of foreign sales at Hyundai Motor, and Comfort Delgro Chairman Lim Jit Poh and President Kua Hong Pak in attendance.

The latest deal is the largest order placed by the Singaporean taxi giant to Hyundai, since the automaker first inked a contract in 2007. Since then Hyundai has been shipping some 2,000 taxis to its partner every year. 

Of 28,193 taxis operating in Singapore, 16,508 units, or 59 percent, are from Hyundai as of the first half of the year, with models including NF Sonata, i40 and i30.

“Hyundai Motor won a deal to provide i40 taxis to Singapore, Asia’s finance and distribution hub and a strong tourism country with 15 million yearly visitors,” an official from Hyundai said. “Providing taxis, Singapore’s main means of public transport, will serve as a great opportunity to promote Hyundai Motor’s outstanding products and the brand globally.”

Hyundai is also supplying its second-generation i30 vehicles to another taxi operator Premier in the country.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)