South Korean car manufacturer Kia plans to implement new models, enhance their sales network and also increase the capacity of production, to reduce the waiting times of the existing product range, according to senior company officials, in the long-term growth prospects for the Indian car market. At the beginning of next year, the carmaker who currently sells three products, Seltos, Sonet, and Carnival, will be driving in a Multipurpose Vehicle (MPV) in the country as he expects the market to start to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 from the festival season.
“At this point, we are focusing and looking at the feasibility of a certain kind of SUV and MPV segments. We are therefore studying this option and preparing it. The firm already has a premium MPV, Carnival, and now wants to introduce a mid-sized product to generate volumes. The company also looks at a market situation when it questions whether the company is also considering the launch of an electric vehicle in the country where the government is focused on the sector”, said Tae Jin Park, Excutive Director of Kia India.
“The situation currently affects sales, but we already have some experience of last year, so it doesn’t take very long and this difficult time will be overcome. Maybe the market will recover again before the festival season. The market has so far been very durable, one different thing is that there was a full lockdown last year and now partial lockdowns, which means that the total impact on enterprises is less than last year”, said Hardeep sing Brar, Kia India National Head of Sales and Marketing.
The company cautioned that if things and situations remain the same, then it will certainly have an impact on the industry volumes, and will depend entirely on how much they can produce and whatever they manufacture, they are capable of selling because of the long wait for products. Kia seeks to increase production further to reduce the wait time, to offer cars to customers as early as possible, and to plan to do so in a few months, so that there is little to do like increased workforce and increase logistics capacity, etc.
Everything seems to be controlled and directed towards it, but the global supply chain is one thing that is not clear. The supply of semiconductors is a question mark if they are resolved and can increase production by July in the next few months. In the coming months, they are ready to proceed. The company currently has a production capacity to deliver 3 lakh cars annually at its manufacturing plant in Anantapur. The company has noted that their plan this year will be 350 dealers and now nearly 300 numbers.
The company plan is to increase the network by 50 odd outlets, particularly in Tier 3, Tier 4 areas. Last week in India, the company launched its new branding approach. Kia now seeks to expand to new, emerging business sectors by creating innovative mobility products to remove the ‘motors’ from its name
