Hyundai's one more member is coming to India by the second half of 2017.
Deeply influenced, the Korean automobile company has for long held India as one of its key markets. A behemoth automaker, Hyundai has entrenched itself into the India market now, and has also used its operations on Indian grounds to export large volumes to Europe and other parts of the world.
So you might be wondering where this Kia came from?
In 2010, the global leadership team took the decision to explore one of two (or both) areas to achieve higher growth in India. The first was the compact commercial vehicle space - with people movers and mini LCVs as the vehicles to drive that. And the second was the introduction of Kia - a brand that just starting to break out then as strong, modern and popular.
People might be unaware of this new brand, but mind you we will not follow the old American review about Kia.
Kia’s today is seen as having some of the most attractive design and quality among-st mass brands. After deciding that Kia was indeed the way to go, an internal feasibility study was carried out in 2011. That study had deferred the launch of Kia to India, as there was uncertainty about which way the Indian market was progressing on fuel and safety policy. And also because Hyundai Motors was sinking bigger money into developing India-specific cars like the longer wheelbase Grand i10, Eon, Xcent, etc.
Therefore,since 2014, India has moved one step higher in terms of its importance to Hyundai globally. This is not because of the volume increase it has seen here, but rather because it's been able to deliver some of the healthiest margins Hyundai has anywhere. That means Hyundai is earning really well in our country, ranging from products like the i20 and i20 Active. Especially Creta which has beefed that up manifold since 2015. With Kia, Hyundai Motors has one key aim - combined increase in market share to take down the market leader. The cash-rich is now aiming to own at least one quarter of the Indian market, Hyundai has decided it and will leave no stone unturned to complete its target.
The idea is to have Kia brand cars on our roads by 2019. Expected places for it’s manufacturing are Gujrat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Moreover, cars that are expected to hit Indian roads includes Kia Optima, Kia Picanto and Kia Sportage.
