Kia Cars in India

Key Highlights of Kia Cars

About Kia

History 

Korean automaker Kia has a long history of producing global cars for sale in Europe and other countries. It started out in 1944 as a bicycle manufacturer and graduated to producing cars in the 1980s. Since then, it has become a globally renowned carmaker under its parent company, Hyundai. 

Kia Motors set up a manufacturing facility to build cars in India in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, in 2017. It has been in India for barely four years, but already, it’s a mainstream carmaker with multiple models on sale. The Seltos was Kia’s debut car in 2019, based on the SP2 SUV concept that was globally unveiled in India at Auto Expo 2018. It was launched in the lucrative compact SUV segment that allowed Kia to price the car well in India. Since then, the automaker has introduced vehicles at multiple price points – a full-size people carrier, a more affordable alternative to the Seltos, the smaller Sonet SUV, and a smaller MPV. 

Product Portfolio 

SUVs: The Seltos and sub-4m Sonet form Kia’s SUV front. The former rivals 5-seater SUVs such as the Hyundai Creta, Skoda Kushaq and VW Taigun. For the Sonet, India’s sub-4m SUV segment is teeming with rivals such as the Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, and Mahindra XUV300. 

People carriers: The Carnival was Kia’s first people mover in India. It can seat anywhere from 7 to 9 people, and it slots above the Toyota Innova in the market. In late 2021 Kia introduced a ‘recreational vehicle’ (RV), the Carens three-row people carrier. 

Greatest Hits 

Kia’s top products for India have been: 

Kia Seltos: Tech loaded SUV in its segment

Kia Sonet: Better equipped for the price than many of its rivals and even larger SUVs 

Future Prospects: 

For now, SUVs and people carriers, both lucrative segments in India, are the bread-and-butter for Kia. Electric vehicles (EVs) from Kia are currently available in the global market, but we don’t get them here yet. Kia’s parent company Hyundai has announced plans to bring its global electric car platform to our shores. As the Indian EV market gains momentum and our charging infrastructure improves, current and future Kia electric models are likely to be launched in India, such as the Kia EV6. 

When the carmaker debuted with its first offering, it had the most cutting-edge safety and infotainment features in the segment. But since then, other carmakers have introduced mild hybrid and fully electric powertrains, and active safety and driver assistance tech to the segment. Given that the Korean brand offers vehicles with these features in other countries, catching up might not be that hard to do.