Korean Kia, China-owned MG crack Indian market with SUVs – Times of India

Chennai: Are the new SUV warriors Kia and MG disrupting the pecking order in Motown? October and November festival sales have changed the rankings in the passenger vehicle (PV) industry. While the top two — Maruti and Hyundai — remain the same, Tata Motors is back at No.3 and Kia is at No.4, and Mahindra & Mahindra is at No.5. The bottom 5 are Renault, Honda, Toyota, MG and Ford, thus introducing two newcomers Kia and MG into the top 10.
The entry of Kia and MG shows that it is possible to crack the Indian market without a single sedan or compact car in the portfolio. Take Kia, which got into the top-5 PV ranking within months of its launch. After the rollout in the last week of August 2019, it entered the top-4 list last in January 2020 with 15,450 units of sales. It became the No.3 PV company with 15,644 and 8,583 units of sales in February and March.
But it is in October and November that Kia hit an all-time high of 21,021 and 21,022 units respectively, earning the South Korean auto company a firm position in the top-5 PV pecking order. Kia sold a total of 88,610 units in April-November this year. “Kia Motors entered the Indian market and became the 4th highest selling manufacturer in the first month itself and has had an uninterrupted position among the top-5 carmakers in India over the last six months. With nearly 1,74,000 units cumulatively sold since August 2019, and consistent market leadership position in both mid-SUV and compact SUV segments, it’s the outcome of giving Indian customers aspirational lifestyle products,” said Kia Motors India executive director & chief sales officer Tae-Jin Park.
Ditto for MG, which is focusing only on premium SUVs to begin with. “We only have plans for SUVs in phase-1 of operations. Our strategy has been to focus on technology, diversity and good experience of dealers and customers. We are not aiming for volumes. We want to fill the Halol plant production in phase-1, which has approximately 80,000-1,00,000 units capacity and would require overall Rs 4,000 crore of investment in India, out of which Rs 3,000 crore has already been invested. We should reach that peak capacity by 2022,” said MG Motor India president & MD Rajeev Chaba. MG Motor sold 18,128 units in the April-November 2020 period, including 4,163 units in November. According to auto expert Hormazd Sorabjee, the success of Kia and MG shows that “you don’t need to be in the budget car market” to be a hit. The reason why these brands cracked the market, he added, is because of the style and feature loads their products come with. “Tech features, gizmos and gadgets, good styling, a modern look and feel and the right price — that’s the combo,” he said. What has also helped Kia is the success of fellow Korean brand and sister company Hyundai. “Hyundai’s success in India has definitely helped Kia,” said Sorabjee. The Kia Seltos shares the same architecture as the Hyundai Creta, and the Kia Sonet and Hyundai Venue share the same platform.