CHENNAI: It will likely be an SUV-drive for Kia Motors India. Following its success with the Seltos and Sonet, the Korean firm is planning to retain its SUV/MPV focus in addition to proceed with each diesel and petrol presence, mentioned Tae-Jin Park, government director & chief gross sales and enterprise technique officer, Kia Motors India in an e mail interview. “The SUV phase progress has outpaced the expansion of all the passenger automobile market and has proven resilience even in a troublesome 2020,” mentioned Park. “ Seeing this development, we definitely see SUVs to play a serious function in our future product line-up,” he added.

With the corporate hitting No 5 within the quantity pecking order in FY21 with 1,55,686 items (simply wanting Mahindra at No 4 with 1,55,805 items), Kia will begin manufacturing in third shift at its Anantapur manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh ‘shortly’.

“We’ve obtained demand which isn’t solely pushed by the metros, but in addition tier-III, IV and upcountry markets so we’re taking a look at initiating the third shift at Anantapur to cater to the growing demand,” mentioned Park. Kia has introduced that it’s concentrating on 2.5 lakh autos manufacturing in calendar 2021 and 20% of that will probably be exported. That is up from 15%-18% of the corporate’s complete manufacturing that was exported in 2020. “We’re exporting Seltos and Sonet to over 70 nations. The Anantapur plant has been developed to make India one of many hubs within the Kia community.”With its future focus firmly on SUVs, Kia plans to retain a powerful diesel presence as properly.

The transmission choices will nevertheless not embrace EVs until India’s EV roadmap turns into clearer. “The success of EVs is closely depending on the fitting infrastructure supported by regular and streamlined insurance policies,” mentioned Park.