Kia India, which is looking to make a significant foothold in the Electric Vehicle (EV) market, is looking to launch its first affordable battery-driven car by next year. To be unveiled at the upcoming Auto Expo 2025, the unnamed electric car will be built in India and will be initially sold in the domestic market. The South Korean carmaker had earlier revealed that the electric car will be built from scratch for the Indian market and will have a higher range than the Tata Nexon EV.
“We are planning to bring a made-in-India mass market electric car in the country that will be developed and designed specifically for the Indian market,” Hardeep Singh Brar, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Marketing at Kia India told media at a round table meeting. He said it would be launched in the first half of next year, followed by another electric vehicle in 2026.
The Indian arm of the Seoul-based firm plans to consolidate its position in the ICE Sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment and is looking to bring in models as per the market demand. The compact SUV will be sharing the same platform, which will underpin the mass-market electric variant.
The company, however, ruled out getting into the micro-SUV segment to take on Hyundai Exter and Tata Punch. "Compact SUV has many definitions. It will be not be positioned below the Sonet. Hopefully, we are going to create a new segment," added Brar. He confirmed that this model will also be unveiled at the Auto Expo.
Kia India, on Thursday introduced the EV9 electric SUV priced at Rs 1.3 crore and Carnival Limousine tagged at Rs 63.9 lakh (both ex-showroom). While the e-SUV is imported as a Completely Built Unit (CBU), the MPV will be following the Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) route from parent company's facilities in South Korea.
“We are not looking at sales volumes with (EV9) car and are just showcasing our technological prowess as we prepare to launch new electric cars in this market,” added Brar. Seconding his thoughts, Joonsu Cho, Chief Sales Officer of the company maintained, “We are considering building EVs, but not this model because have to consider volumes and profitability while producing here.”
Talking about the new Carnival, he noted: “This vehicle is in great demand in India as in 2,800 units have been already booked before the launch. We may mass-manufacture this model in the future.” He revealed that while there are enquiries for the Hybrid version of this model, the company has not considered it. Talking about the new Carnival, he noted: “This vehicle is in great demand in India as in 2,800 units have been already booked before the launch. We may mass-manufacture this model in the future.”
When queried about the possibility of bringing in hybrid electric vehicles, the company said it is evaluating all technologies. However, Brar cautioned, “Hybrids is an interim strategy, because the moment charging infrastructure is in order, and the range becomes better for the EVs, and the price gap between EVs and ICE becomes shorter, there could be a sudden blip in the electric vehicles.”
Kia India is looking to touch 4 lakh unit sales annually in the Indian market by 2030. When asked about the contribution of battery-driven models to its total sales in the long term, Brar stated, “We expect about 15-18 percent of the total Passenger Vehicle (PV) market and we should be in line with that." At present, EVs account for less than 1 percent of the company's sales.
The South Korean carmaker aims to end the current calendar year with sales of 2.5 lakh units. "Our target is to close next year with 3 lakh units," he stated. When asked about the outlook for the festive season, he said it is going to witness brisk sales. ”We had some slowdown in the last few months but we expect festive sales to offset it," Brar said.
The carmaker, which is exporting to 100 countries, is also ramping up its exports volumes. However, as Cho maintained, “Since we are manufacturing only the Right Hand Drive (RHD) version of the models, our export market has some limits. We are rather we are right now we are focusing on the domestic market, because we need to have the strong domestic market to have a have an export increase. So definitely we are looking at additional markets and all every model that we are producing.”
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