Is Kia Ready For Stiffer Competition!

Upstart kia tore through the darkness surrounding the Indian auto industry to race towards the top, leaving more celebrated names rolling in the dust. Can it keep going?

- Prerna Lidhoo

SUPER VILLAIN MEERKAT tries to woo car designer Johnny to become his inspiration for a new car, but Johnny remains singularly unimpressed. The puny yet spunky baddie then has to contend with actor Tiger Shroff to launch the car, but comes a cropper here too, as the actor turns out to be more of a badass than the villain. What's the deal here? Well, Adventures of Meerkat was not just a fun comic video. It was, in fact, the India launch 'vehicle' for Kia, South Korea's second-biggest carmaker after Hyundai (both are part of Hyundai Motor Group, or HMG).

Known globally for its edgy design sense, Kia instantly made an impact with the launch of the Seltos sports utility vehicle (SUV) in August 2019. At a time when India's auto industry was facing its worst slump in decades, Seltos took the market by storm, outselling two of the most popular cars in the compact SUV segment-Hyundai Creta and Maruti Brezza. Backed by smart, quirky branding campaigns and the knowledge and resources of its cousin Hyundai, Kia India has reached in less than three years a position other celebrated global names have been unable to reach in decades market share of almost 6 per cent, and No. 5 position in the Indian four-wheeler pecking order.

But as it moves forward, Kia needs to be ready for stiffer competition. Already, in FY22, its growth rate (in utility vehicle unit sales) has slowed to 19.9 per cent compared to 83.4 per cent in FY21. More tellingly, Kia was No. 3 in utility vehicle sales in FY21. But in FY22, it has been pushed down to No. 5 in the segment by old warriors Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, which have grown 161.6 per cent and 43.8 per cent, respectively. Even segment leader Maruti Suzuki has grown SUV sales faster than Kia in FY22, at 26.9 per cent.