Over the past few years, Kia has proved itself to be a tough competition to various brands in India. And now, Kia India has achieved a new milestone, as its overall sales crossed the 3 lakhs unit mark. The company achieved the milestone in less than 2 years, making it the fastest brand to surpass 3 lakh sales in India. Kia achieved the first 1 lakh milestone in July 2020. In January 2021, sales had already crossed the 2 lakhs unit mark and the next 1 lakh sales were achieved this month. It took 1 year for Kia to reach the 1 lakh sales mark, but the next 2 lakhs were achieved in the same amount of time. The 3,00,000th car to roll out of Kia’s manufacturing facility in Anantapur was a Seltos.
Kia’s Line Up
Kia India currently sells three vehicles — Sonet, Seltos, and Carnival. The first among them to be launched in India was the Kia Seltos in August 2019. The Kia Carnival entered the market in February 2020, while the Kia Sonet was introduced in September 2020. Kia forayed into the Indian market with the Seltos crossover. It makes up 66% of the brand’s total sales. The smaller Sonet added 32% to the sales. The carmaker also offers the Carnival MPV in India, of which 7,310 units have been sold.
Pricing
The Kia Seltos is priced between ₹9.95 lakh and ₹17.65 lakh (ex-showroom, India). The Kia Sonet’s price starts at ₹6.79 lakh and goes up to ₹13.25 lakh (ex-showroom, India). The Kia Carnival is available in the price range of ₹24.95 lakh to ₹33.95 lakh (ex-showroom, India).
Future Plans
To begin with, Kia will focus heavily on expanding its network this year from its current 300 customer touchpoints across the country. The company plans to increase the number to 360 by the end of the year with an increased focus on Tier II and Tier III cities. By the end of 2021, Kia will have its presence in 218 cities across the country. Kia will also add another 60 mobile workshops to its current count of 40 by the end of the year.
In addition, Kia India also confirmed the launch of a few special edition variants subsequently in the year. Additionally, the Korean carmaker also plans to enter in the new SUV segment in 2022. While the company didn’t release any more details about their upcoming offer, it could possibly be the new Sorento, which will take on the likes of the Hyundai Alcazar, MG Hector Plus and the Tata Safari.