Game-changing model for Korean carmaker accounts for 58% of domestic market sales and 71% of Kia India’s made-in-India vehicle exports.
13 Aug 2022 | 15582 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
Ten days before the third anniversary of its launch in India, the Kia Seltos has clocked a new sales milestone – 300,000 units – which works out to average monthly sales of 8,571 units across a little over 35 months.
Launched on August 22, 2019, the Seltos has till ...
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Ten days before the third anniversary of its launch in India, the Kia Seltos has clocked a new sales milestone – 300,000 units – which works out to average monthly sales of 8,571 units across a little over 35 months.
Launched on August 22, 2019, the Seltos has till end-July 2022 sold a total of 297,207 units comprising 81,717 units in FY2020, 89,173 in FY2021, 95,929 in FY2022 and 30,388 units in the April-July 2022 period of the ongoing fiscal year.
In mid-July 2022, Kia India drove past the cumulative 500,000-units sales milestone in the domestic market. As per Autocar Professional’s data analytics, till end-July 2022, the Seltos had contributed 297,207 units or 58% to the carmaker’s cumulative sales of 511,144 units in 35 months. The Sonet compact SUV with 165,554 units is the next biggest contributor with 32%, followed by the recently launched Carens with 36,931 units and 7.22% contribution. The Carnival with 11,452 units chipped in with 2.24% contribution to total sales. The Carens, which was launched on February 15, 2022, is turning out to be a strong performer.
While 58% of the Seltos sales come from its top variants, the automatic options of the vehicle contribute to around 25%. Kia’s iMT technology has proved to be a good draw with buyers with one out of every 10 Seltos buyers opting for it in 2022. According to Kia India, the most popular Seltos variant is the HTX Petrol, and the most popular colour is white. The demand for the petrol and diesel variants of the Seltos is balanced, with around 46% of the customers preferring the diesel variants of the Seltos.
Myung-sik Sohn, Chief Sales Officer, Kia India, ”Being our first product in India, the Seltos has played a pivotal role in charting Kia’s success story here. With Seltos, Kia India was able to establish itself as a true disruptor and was able to cement its position in country’s top 5 car manufacturers within just two months of commencement of sales in the country. With Seltos, we wanted to offer a world-class product that addressed the unmet needs of Indian customers, and the great response we’ve received is a testimony to the fact that we have achieved what we initially set out for.”
Exports nearing the 150,000-unit mark
Since manufacturing operations began three years ago, Kia India has completed over 630,000 despatches from its Anantapur plant, comprising over 500,000 domestic sales and over 140,000 exports.
As per Autocar Professional’s export data statistics, 101,175 units of the Seltos have been shipped overseas till end-July 2022, accounting for 71.13% of Kia India’s total exports. The Sonet with 38,590 units (27.13% contribution to exports) and Carens with 2,474 units (1.73% export contribution) make up the balance.
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Kia India races past 500,000 sales in less than 3 years