Kia Motors India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kia Motors Corporation, which is the second largest car manufacturer in South Korea. Kia Motors has started its Indian innings with the all-new Kia Seltos SUV. The decision to bring a compact SUV in India might turn in Kia’s favour given the popularity of SUVs in general and lack of stiff opponents in this segment to the Hyundai Creta.
At the launch of the Seltos SUV, Kia had over 250 touchpoints (showrooms + service centres) in India. The carmaker has plans to expand its sales and service network further. Amongst the new entrants in the automobile industry, Kia has the highest number of dealerships in the country. Since Kia’s car models are likely to share parts with their corresponding Hyundai models, it can be considered to be having a large spare parts inventory as well, in future.
After the Seltos, Kia has plans to enter the MPV segment in India with the Carnival. The Kia Carnival will be a large MPV and it will have the seating capacity to sit seven people, but will be positioned over the Toyota Innova Crysta when it launches in India. The Carnival is expected to launch in India at the 2020 Auto Expo.
The third Kia car in India is likely to be a sub-4m SUV, one that would compete against the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. It is likely to be based on the Hyundai Venue only, so platform and powertrains are expected to be shared. Expect this SUV to come to India sometime around late 2020.
Kia has invested in a manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh with an annual capacity of 3 lakh units. Along with Hyundai, Kia is expected to become the second most popular carmaker in India in terms of sales volume.
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