Kia Motors reports 74% increase in August sales at 10,845 units

Kia Motors India on Tuesday reported a 74 per cent increase in sales at 10,845 units in August as compared with 6,236 units in the same month last year.

Owing to the recovery of demand in the domestic market since resuming operations after the lockdown, the company has been able to consolidate its position as one of the top five car manufacturers in the country, Kia Motors India said in a statement.

Setting one more milestone in its India journey, the company also marked the sale of 1 lakh units of Seltos in less than a year's time, it added.

Sales of Seltos stood at 10,655 units last month, the company said.

Kia Motors began its journey in India in August 2019 with Seltos. Within one year of commencement of sales in the country, the automaker has acquired almost 6 per cent market share in the passenger vehicle segment with only two products – Seltos and Carnival, it said.

The company is set to launch its third product, compact SUV Sonet, later this month.

"Indian consumers have been very welcoming towards Kia Motors as we became the fastest automaker in India to reach over 1 lakh sales in just 1 year. This milestone is a great success as well as a testament of consumer's trust on the brand and products," Kia Motors India MD and CEO Kookhyun Shim said.

This instils more confidence in the company and brings in motivation to build a robust product pipeline, which addresses the changing needs of Indian consumers, he added.

"Inspired with the success of Seltos, we are proud to present our third product for India – Sonet, which is not only locally manufactured but exclusively manufactured in India too," Shim said.

Sonet is specially designed for the Indian consumers, he added.

"Also, we are initiating our plan to establish India as an export hub with Sonet, catering to 70 plus countries from our Anantapur manufacturing unit," Shim said.