Kia India zips past 300,000 sales in 24 months, confirms Autocar Pro’s forecast

Everything official about it now. Kia Motors has a little while ago confirmed Autocar Professional’s sales analysis of August 2, wherein we had pointed out that the Korean carmaker would cross the 300,000-unit sales mark in India on August 5. As of end-June 2021, the carmaker had notched total sales of 297,781 units, just 2,219 shy of the 300,000-unit mark. That milestone has been crossed today.   

Above: A clip from Autocar Professional's report on August 2.  

Fastest in India from zero to 300,000
With this Kia India has become the quickest to achieve the 300,000 sales milestone in the domestic automotive market. The brand crossed the first 100,000 milestone in July 2020, 200,000 in January 2021, and 300,000 now in August 2021. While the first 100,000 was clocked in a year, the next 200,000 sales have come up in barely 12 months, indicating the high adoption rate of Kia cars amongst Indian customers.

The Seltos, Kia India’s flagship product, Seltos, remains the highest contributor with a 66% share while Sonet added 32% to the sales. The brand sold 7,310 units of its premium offering, the Carnival. 

Commenting on the achievement, Kookhyun Shim, MD and CEO, Kia India said, “300,000 sales for Kia India is a strong affirmation of customer acceptance and their confidence in the brand and its offerings. Despite testing times, the Indian market has shown a strong rebound in demand. Our extensive sales, aftersales service network, and pre-emptive measures like an end-to-end digitised sales process helped us minimise business risks and perform against all odds."

He added, "Over the last year, we have carefully identified the unmet needs of Indian customers and catered to them with premium, well-designed products equipped with segment-first features. We are confident that our best-in-class products and ownership experience will continue to exhilarate our customers.”

Kia has developed a strong retail network in the country. It now aims to expand its footprint from the current 300 to 360 touch-points, covering 90% of the Indian market, including Tier III, IV, and upcountry markets. In line with the recent brand transformation, Kia has announced a number of industry-first customer-centric initiatives targeting unmet demands of new-age, discerning consumers. It has initiated the digitisation drive, offering its customers the end-to-end digital sales process since the start of its sales operation. The brand has successfully created a Phygital framework wherein digital channels complement the efforts of its dealer partners.

The Seltos was the 300,000th car to roll out from Kia’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Anantapur, which employs over 13,000 employees. Over the last two years, Kia has invested over US$ 2 billion, inclusive of the vendor park created near the plant, which is a testament to the company’s commitment to the Indian market. The Anantapur plant is Kia’s most advanced production facility, equipped with over 450 robots & Artificial Intelligence and environment-conscious techniques such as 100% water recycling.

What should give the carmaker more momentum in the marketplace is its No. 1 ranking in dealer satsifaction. A few days ago, Kia India topped FADA India’s Dealer Satisfaction Study 2021, notching 879 points, exceeding the nearest OEM by 101 points.

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