Kia India Strategy Of New Model Every 6 Months Put On Hold

Kia Seltos Diesel — Until the pandemic subsides, no new Kia cars will come to India

Kia India Strategy of launching a new car every six months has been put on hold, as the company has decided to consolidate its portfolio at the moment and wait for the pandemic to pass.

The firm’s new model programme had not accounted for a possible pandemic, although to be fair, no automaker would likely think about such a crisis while planning their future market strategy.

Marketing and Sales Head of Kia Motors India, Manohar Bhat, said, “COVID-19 has led to a hiccup in our plans. It is a speed breaker for now, but India’s long-term potential as an automobile market still remains. For now, we will focus on the launch of Sonet and carrying the momentum of Seltos and Carnival forward.”

This comes as a real bummer since Kia India strategy, had it all gone according to plan, would have seen the launch of four more cars, Sonet included, by Match 2022.

Also, due to the uncertainty of the market, Kia does not even want to take a guess about its market share this year. Last year, banking on just one product, Kia held 6 percent market share.

So far, Kia India has sold over one lakh vehicles, with the Seltos raking up more than 98,000 units by itself.

When the Sonet gets launched next month, it too is expected to bring in good sales, as so far the car has garnered over 9000 bookings.