Kia Motors reports strong Q3 CY2019 results, India to play key role in boosting sales

Korean carmaker Kia Motors, today reported a strong financial performance in Q3 CY2019 on the back of favourable currency impact and momentum generated by new models, which the company says helped offset weaker demand in the Chinese market. The company reported revenue of KRW 15.09 trillion (Rs 91 crore), up 7.2 percent YoY.

The operating profit in the third quarter totalled KRW 291.5 billion (Rs 1,764 crore), a jump of 148.5 percent from a year earlier, while the company posted a net profit including minority interest of KRW 325.8 billion (Rs 1,973 crore), 2.2 percent YoY.

The company's global sales in the third quarter of 2019 came at 691,151 units, a slight increase from the same period last year, despite sluggish demand in key markets and ongoing trade disputes between major economies. Kia Motors said while the global economy is likely to remain slow for the remainder of the year due to global trade tensions, weak investor sentiments and the slump in local economies in emerging markets, the company plans to boost sales of new SUV and higher-volume models while establishing stronger presence in emerging markets including India.

In India, Kia plans to gain a deeper foothold, by building on its successful foray into market. The company sold more than 50,000 vehicle units in India with a single model, Seltos, despite weakening market demand.

Kia had first revealed the Seltos in a global debut on June 6, following it up with the official launch on August 22. The Seltos is manufactured at a state-of-the-art plant in Anantapur, which is spread across 536 acres, has an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles and is also capable of producing hybrid and electric vehicles.

The company has invested US$ 1.1 billion (Rs 7,755 crore) into this greenfield facility, and has plans to further increase total investment to US$ 2 billion (Rs 14,100 crore) into operations, products, R&D and market expansion by 2021.

In the first six months of FY2020, Kia has manufactured a total of 18,350 units, with 9,801 units coming up in September 2019. In the domestic market, the carmaker has sold a total of 13,790 units comprising 6,236 units in August and 7,554 units in September. What's more, the Seltos entered the best-selling UVs chart in its very first month of sale. Interestingly, the company shipped the first batch of 471 units of the Made-in-India Seltos SUVs last month.