Kia Motors and MG Motors in a blazing post launch performance entered the top 10 club. Both brands entered the Indian market with an SUV. Interestingly the Seltos managed to sell double the volumes of entrenched model Hyundai Creta which was the segment leader previously.
Founded in 1944, Kia, with over $47 billion in revenues, is Korea’s oldest automobile manufacturer and produces about 3 million vehicles a year across its 14 manufacturing and assembly operations in five countries. Kia launched the Seltos compact SUV in August as its debut product in India. Despite being such a new vehicle in the market, the Seltos has beaten every other vehicle in the compact SUV game to take the mantle of the segment sales leader.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd., the country’s second-largest car maker, is pushing new launches, tech innovations and electric vehicles amid a slowdown, while affiliate Kia Motors India bolsters its growth journey.
In October, Kia Motors India sold 12,850 units of its SUV Seltos, buckling the automotive downturn, and joining the top five carmakers ‘ list. Since its release in August, in about 70 days, 26,840 Seltos units have been delivered. The company became India’s fifth-largest automaker with just one product on the market, said, Kia. The Andhra Pradesh plant in Kia can produce 300,000 units per year.
Seltos India’s best-selling compact SUV with 12,850 units sold in October 2019. October sales places Seltos on number 7 amongst all the vehicles sold in the country and catapults Kia Motor India to the fifth place in the Indian automobile market and we are just 1 product and 3 months old, may the love for Kia keep growing and we are able maintain this excitement.
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Kia Motors India has already received over 60,000 bookings for the Seltos till now and to ensure the timely and seamless delivery Kia has started the second shift to ramp up the production at its production facility in Anantapur. The company also shared that it will not close the bookings as the brand’s plant is fully capable of meeting the rising demand for the Seltos,” said the company in a press release.
Kia, SAIC Motor-owned MG Motor and PSA’s Citroen are the three auto makers set to enter the domestic market this year and the next. Of the three, Kia has so far outlined the most aggressive strategy for India as it will start its journey with a capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year and 265 touch points— a mix of dealerships and service centres—across 160 cities. The subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group has invested around $1 billion in India.
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Priced in the range of Rs 9.69 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) and Rs 16.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), Kia Seltos rivals the likes of MG Hector, Hyundai Creta, Mahindra XUV500, Tata Harrier and Jeep Compass.