Kia Seltos waiting period to come down

Kia Motors India is working doubly hard to bring down the waiting period for its SUV, the Kia Seltos. The bookings for the Seltos have surpassed the 62,000 units mark. According to Manohar Bhat, Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing, Kia Motors India, this high a demand for the SUV did come across as a surprise to the company, though a pleasant one. And to counter the long waiting period for the SUV, Kia is now working two shifts at its plant, producing 13,000 units per month. 

The Anantapur plant has an installed capacity of 300,000 cars a year when operating on three-shift basis. With two shifts now in place, Bhat claims the waiting period is down to as low as a month for some variants. And the plan is to bring it down further. If Bhat has his way, he’d want customers to pay and then drive out in the exact model, variant and colour of their choosing right away. Kia Motor India has already shipped over 30,000 units of the Seltos from the plant.

But, of course, things aren’t that easy. Increasing production at the plant is just step one towards countering the long waiting period. There’s also vendor capacity to consider. And the vendor’s readiness - again in capacity terms - to deliver the toppings specific to the trims that are in high demand. In the Seltos’ case that would be the top spec GTX+ version, the waiting period for which is now running into three months. But like Manohar told CarWale, the company is working towards bringing it down.