Kia To Increase Production At India Plant To 4 Lakh Units/Year

Speaking to ET Auto, a senior Kia official stated that the company would be increasing production levels at its Andhra Pradesh plant by the year end to 4 lakh units per annum. The Kia facility, which is located in the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh, currently produces 3 lakh vehicles every year.

However, Kia will not be of adding new production lines at its facility in Andhra Pradesh. Instead, the company claims that it will be increasing production by increasing the efficiency of its factory. Speaking to ET Auto, Tae-Jin Park, Managing Director and CEO, Kia India stated, "We are working on putting an additional capacity of 100,000 units in India by the end of this year. This will be mainly by way of enhancing the efficiency."

Park added, "As of now we are not sure how the market will evolve looking at the pandemic situation in some parts of the world and also supply chain crisis due to chip shortage. This additional capacity can be managed with efficiency enhancement and may not need a new production line."

Park also revealed that Kia would be concentrating on SUVs and MPVs for the Indian market. He stated that there was a demand for SUVs in the Indian market and that Kia would continue to focus on that section of the Indian car market.

Kia currently sells four vehicles in the Indian market - 2 SUVs (Sonet and Seltos) and 2 MPVs (Carens and Carnival). The carmaker has been steadily chipping away at the established players in the Indian car market to become the fifth largest carmaker in the country in terms of sales numbers.

Despite the pandemic and the chip shortage, Kia grew by 20 per cent in the financial year 2021/22 compared to the previous financial year. Kia's 2 SUVs contributed to most of the numbers with the Seltos and Sonet contributing to 51 and 40 per cent of the sales numbers for the financial year 2021/22 when Kia sold a total of 1,86,787 cars in the country.

Since its arrival in the country two and half years ago, Kia has produced over 5 lakh vehicles in the country. The Andhra Pradesh production facility has exported 1 lakh units to more than 91 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central & South America, Mexico and the Asia-Pacific since it started shipping the Seltos back in September 2019.

Thoughts On Kia's Plans to Increase Production

Kia's plans to increase production at its Anantpur factory in Andhra Pradesh from the current 3 lakh units per annum level to 4 lakh vehicles annually shows the increasing demand for the South Korean carmaker's vehicles. Since its arrival in 2019, Kia has disrupted the Indian car market and has carved its way into becoming a top 5 car manufacturer. With the country finally moving forward after the pandemic and the demand for SUVs growing everyday, we expect Kia to go to new heights.