The Indian automotive industry has been going through a rough patch for over a period of time and there are no two ways about it. With back to back challenges such as BS6 implementation, model updates, general market degrowth and now, COVID-19 aka coronavirus and the subsequent nationwide lockdown, things seem pretty gloomy at the moment. Many OEMs have shut down their manufacturing facilities to slow down the spread of COVID-19 and thereby ‘flatten the curve’.
With the imposition of the lockdown, overall automotive sales figures have virtually come down to zero. In this strange period, automakers are doing their most through connected services and social media by spreading awareness through creative posts about the novel coronavirus in their various social media handles. Now, Kia Motors has come with a unique and innovative way to spread this awareness about covid-19 and social distancing norms.
Also Read: Kia Seltos Has a Message for its Newly-Launched Cousin in New TVC
The marketing team of Kia has come with an idea to play the Carnival TVC in a rewound manner, that is, the video gets played backwards. The video has been uploaded by Kia Motors on their official youtube channel. In the original video, the lead character, played by Jim Sarbh, can be seen going for a date in his Carnival. The video shows the advertisement being played from the last scene to the first scene which is basically putting a stop on all the outdoor activities and sitting inside the house and maintaining social distancing.
Meanwhile, Kia has started a campaign called #RewindKia which plays the same video in reverse and asks viewers to stay put in their homes. Covid-19 has had quite a damaging effect on the world as a whole and businesses across segments. The automotive industry in India was already reeling with a slowdown and now the worldwide pandemic has added another dent to the promising hopes.
Kia Motors currently has two models on sale in India. Their first product, the Kia Seltos became popular in the segment in a very short span of time mainly because of the looks, features it offered and the competitive price at which it was launched. After its successful launch, Kia introduced its second product- the Carnival MPV which created a segment in itself. The MPV sits above the likes of Toyota Innova Crysta and Mahindra Marazzo but is a lot more affordable than luxury MPVs like Toyota Vellfire and Mercedes-Benz V-class. The Kia Carnival was launched back at Auto Expo 2020 at a starting price of Rs 24.95 lakh ex-showroom. It is powered by a 2.2-litre diesel mill that makes 197bhp and 440Nm of torque while mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission
Kia’s next product in India is going to be a compact SUV in the sub-4 metre category named Sonet which was showcased as a concept at the AutoExpo 2020 in February. It is expected to go on sale towards the end of the year. It is going to rival the likes of Tata Nexon, Maruti-Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Mahindra XUV300 and Hyundai Venue.