Kia Motors to produce two new models at Indian plant in 2020

2019.12.06 11:36:29 | 2019.12.06 11:37:55

[Photo provided by Kia Motors Corp.]À̹ÌÁö È®´ë

[Photo provided by Kia Motors Corp.]

South Korea¡¯s second largest automaker Kia Motors Corp. will add two new models next year to its Indian plant in Andhra Pradesh that opened in July with the goal of producing 300,000 units annually within three years.

The company held a ceremony on Thursday (local time) to mark completion of construction of the assembly line in Anantapur, and said it will produce two new models at the line starting next year.

¡°We were able to finish construction in just two years thanks to the full support from the Indian government and Kia employees,¡± said Kia Motors CEO Park Han-woo. ¡°I¡¯d also like to thank Indian consumers for their enthusiastic response to Seltos and in response, we will release new cars including premium mini-van next year.¡±

In 2020, Kia will begin to manufacture two new models at the line that currently only churns out compact SUV Seltos. Industry sources speculate the one would be minivan Carnival and the other one entry-level SUV. They will be exclusively sold in India and new markets in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

[Photo provided by Kia Motors Corp.]À̹ÌÁö È®´ë

[Photo provided by Kia Motors Corp.]

Kia Motors signed an agreement in April 2017 with the state government of Andhra Pradesh to build the manufacturing line and broke ground in October. The carmaker received more than 32,000 pre-orders for Seltos and sold 40,649 units of the compact SUV in India since its release in August to last month. The Seltos ranked fourth in the list of best-selling cars in November by recording 14,005 units in sale.

The Anantapur line sitting on an area of 2.16 million square meters is capable of producing 300,000 units of cars a year. Kia Motors aims to fully operate the plant within three years by increasing the output from the current 50,000 units to 160,000 after adding two new models next year.

By Lee Jong-hyuk and Choi Mira

[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]