India now accounts for six percent of the carmaker’s global sales.
Kia India has crossed the five lakh sales milestone less than three years since its entry into the Indian market. According to Kia, it is the shortest time taken for any carmaker to achieve this milestone in the country, and the company’s India operations now account for six percent of its global sales.
- Kia Seltos accounted for 59 percent of sales
- Kia has dispatched a total of 6,34,224 units from its India plant
Kia sales in India
Kia has been on a roll in the Indian market since its entry here and this is evident by how fast the carmaker has achieved this milestone. Kia crossed the 1,00,000 unit sales in July 2020, within a year of its launch, and was also the fastest carmaker to cross the 4,00,000 figure in the Indian market.
The Seltos SUV remains Kia’s biggest seller accounting for 59 percent of the total sales, with the Sonet accounting for another 32 percent. The relatively new Carens MPV contributed almost 6.5 percent selling 30,953 units since its launch in February 2022. Kia’s more premium and more expensive Canival sells around 400 units per month, according to the carmaker.
Going by our FY22 sales analysis, the Seltos was the second highest selling model after the Hyundai Creta in the midsize SUV space. The Sonet, on the other hand, made it into the top five in the compact SUV segment.
From its manufacturing base in Andhra Pradesh, Kia has dispatched a total of 6,34,224 units, including exports.
Reason behind Kia’s success in India
Kia’s popularity in India is not hard to decode as they entered our market with the Seltos in the highly lucrative midsize SUV segment, followed by the Sonet in the even more popular compact-SUV segment. Kia also took the fight to Hyundai’s doorstep in terms of equipment offered, which was supplemented by its striking exterior design and interior finish quality.
Kia also gave customers a range of powertrains – petrol, diesel and as many as five transmission options. Kia also continually updated the model line-up with new features and variants making their models relevant despite the arrival of newer rivals.
The Kia line-up in India currently consists of the Seltos, Sonet, Carens, Carnival and the EV6 crossover.
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