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S Muralidhar For an automobile market that seems saturated with global brands that have already explored the waters here, the potential for growth is still strong enough to attract new players.
The latest entrant is Kia Motors, which has used the platform of the Auto Expo 2018 to announce its foray into the Indian passenger car market.
Kia, a Seoul-headquartered Hyundai Group company, is aware that the Indian market is not going to be easy to crack with its set of strong, well-established manufacturers.
But if the size of its stall, the jazzed up display of 16 models from its portfolio and its eager to talk officials are any indicators, then it’s obvious Kia wants to make up for lost time.
Kia’s first passenger vehicle will be a sports utility vehicle based on the same platform as the Hyundai Creta. At the Expo here, Kia is displaying the SP Concept, which is a near production-ready version of the SUV. The concept attempts to define a design direction for the brand’s first vehicles for India. Kia’s first commercial launch is expected to be some time in mid-2019. The company’s plant — under construction in Andhra Pradesh now — will have an installed capacity to produce 300,000 cars annually.
Sisters, rivals
Kia is a sister brand of Hyundai, but company officials are quick to point out that the two are also competitors. In fact, Kia says it has aggressive plans to outperform its parent brand.
After the production version of the SP Concept is launched, Kia plans to launch at least one new model every year till 2021.
At the time of its first launch, the automaker expects to have dealerships located in the major metros and tier 1 and 2 cities.
The company proposes to invest about $1.1 billion in its plant. After its compact SUV launch in mid-2019, the company is expected to quickly ramp up its portfolio to include a sedan and small hatchback too.
Company officials say the SUV based on the SP Concept will be manufactured exclusively at the Indian plant and could be exported to other markets too, through the initial focus will be to cater to the Indian market only.
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