NEW DELHI: Korean carmaker Kia will enhance its production, sales network and its product range in the country next year as part of an aggressive business plan to counter growing competition in the market.
The automaker also has plans to curtail exports from the country in order to effectively cater to the demand in the domestic market.
“We have an aggressive business plan for next year. We are looking to add 100 more sales outlets and enhance installed production capacity by 1 lakh units,” Kia India Managing Director and chief executive officer Tae-Jin Park said on the sidelines of global premier of the latest version of its compact SUV Sonet.
Kia currently has a production capacity of 3.4 lakh units per annum at its Andhra Pradesh-based manufacturing plant. It also has 429 sales outlets in the country. Park said the company’s sales were impacted last year due to a variety of reasons including component shortage and the issues stand resolved now. Park also informed that Kia would curtail exports from the country in 2024.
The overseas shipments next year would be up to 10% of the overall production, he added. Kia currently exports around 20% of its production to global markets. On enhancing the sales network, Park said the company is looking to target tier III and tier IV towns next year while also enhancing presence in some of the bigger cities.
“We expect domestic market to get more competitive and crowded next year, so we are looking at all these measures,” Park said. On new product introductions, he stated the company will introduce the new version of Carnival MPV in the country next year. When asked about the company’s electric vehicle plans for the country, Park noted that the company would launch EV 9 next year.
Diesel trims continue to account for 40-45 per cent of total sales in Seltos and Sonet, Park said. The new Sonet comes with petrol and diesel powertrains and more than 25 safety features, including ADAS.