Kia mulls third shift as car demand rises

Carmaker Kia Motors India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kia Motors Corporation, is planning to start a third shift at its Anantapur plant in Andhra Pradesh following an improvement in domestic demand for its products.

Currently, Kia’s manufacturing plant is operating two shifts and the firm is evaluating adding one more shift to meet the increasing demand.

Kia also aims to fully utilise its capacity of 3 lakh units per annum by 2022. With 300 touchpoints across India, the firm plans to expand its network further in tier 3 and 4 markets, the Indian unit of the South Korean carmaker said in a statement.

Kia Motors, meanwhile, said it has became the fastest carmaker to achieve two lakh units in domestic sales in India. The first one-lakh units was achieved in July 2020 and the second one lakh in six months.

The maker of Seltos, Sonet and Carnival, had dispatched two lakh vehicles to its dealerships across India within 17 months of commencing sales operations in the country. The top-end variants of Seltos and Sonet and the limousine variant of Carnival, account for almost 60% of the total cars sold, it said.