India’s importance as a strategic global market seen in Kia India’s 9.41% share of global sales in September with 23,523 units and 8.30% with 192,690 units in the first nine months of this year.
05 Oct 2024 | 331 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
Earlier this week, Kia Corporation announced its global sales for September 2024 and the first nine months of CY2024. Kia’s September 2024 global sales of 249,842 units (including 700 special purpose vehicles) were down 4.50% (September 2023: 261,479 units). Kia India, with 23,523 units, contributed 9.41% to the Korean car ...
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Earlier this week, Kia Corporation announced its global sales for September 2024 and the first nine months of CY2024. Kia’s September 2024 global sales of 249,842 units (including 700 special purpose vehicles) were down 4.50% (September 2023: 261,479 units). Kia India, with 23,523 units, contributed 9.41% to the Korean car and SUV manufacturer’s global sales last month.
The Sportage SUV drove Kia’s September sales, recording 47,207 units globally. The Seltos and Sorento SUVs backed up this continued market performance, with the Seltos SUV recording global sales of 23,303 units of which the India market contributed 6,959 units. The Sorento SUV sold 23,069 units globally.
Outside of Korea, Kia recorded sales of 211,002 units, down 2.7% compared with the same period in 2023. The Sportage SUV led the brand’s performance in markets outside of Korea, with 42,666 sales. It was followed by the Seltos SUV, which sold 18,870 units, and the K3 (including its successor in some markets, the K4 compact sedan) with sales of 17,092 units.
In the Korean market, Kia sold 38,140 units, a 13.6% decrease compared with the same period last year. The Sorento SUV led the company’s passenger vehicle sales in its home market, with 6,628 units. This was followed by the Carnival MPV, which sold 4,900 units, and the K8 sedan, with 4,724 sales.
Kia will launch its new Sportage SUV as well as commencing European sales of its all-electric EV3 in the fourth quarter of this year. The company will continue to build on its sales momentum in the first half of next year with the launch of new models, including EV4 and the Tasman pickup.
Kia India contributes 8.30% to global sales in first 9 months of 2024
India, which is the third largest automobile market in the world and among the fastest growing, despite the current slowdown, remains a strong contributor to Kia Corp’s global sales. In the first nine months of CY2024, Kia Corporation sold a total of 23,19,332 or 2.31 million vehicles, down 1.50% year on year (January-September 2023: 23,54,229 units).
Kia India, which dispatched a total of 192,690 passenger vehicles in the January-September 2024 period, contributed 8.30% to Kia’s global sales. This is more or less the same in the year-ago period when Kia India sold 195,351 units.
With three months still left in the current calendar year, Kia is 62,040 units away from its estimated CY2023 total sales of 255,000 units.
Kia India, which has expanded its portfolio in the first week of October with the launch of the new Carnival MPV and the all-electric EV9 SUV, had a portfolio of four vehicles in the first nine months of CY2024. The Sonet compact SUV continues to be its best-seller with 84,339 units and accounts for 43% of the company’s sales. The refreshed Sonet has outsold the Seltos midsize SUV right since January 2024 – the Seltos, with sales of 59,186 units has a 30% share of Kia India’s sales, and is followed by the Carens MPV (48,992 units and 25% share), and the EV6 (113 units, 0.057% share).
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