Though the South Korean carmaker has made no explicit announcement as to when they will be entering the Indian market, the automaker's chief executive has been quoted by the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper indicating at the probability of them coming to India.
Kia Motors needs to set up a factory in India to tap growth here and offset slowing sales in Russia and China is what he had to say.
Kia Motors is an affiliate of Hyundai Motors, who have a roaring business going on in the Indian market. Kia Motors currently has no production in India, and high import taxes mean Kia's India sales are also negligible. So the next best option is to look towards starting a manufacturing facility here.
"While growth in Russia or China is stagnating, India is where Kia will ultimately make a leap forward," Kia CEO Park Han-woo, a former head of Hyundai Motor's Indian unit, told the newspaper.
The report gave no further details and a Kia Motors spokesman said the automaker had "no current plan to build a new factory in India or enter the market".
Market analysis has long since predicted India’s burgeoning auto industry and how big a market it is turning out to be for global automakers. Kia Motors too is weighing its options now and it is only a matter of time before we see other global car manufacturers come looking for their share of the Indian automotive market.
Source: ET
