On Thursday, South Korean automobile manufacturer Kia Motors announced an additional investment of $54 million in Andhra Pradesh for expanding its manufacturing facility at Anantapur.
Kookhyun Shim, MD, and CEO of Kia Motors India announced the Andhra Pradesh government’s local program under the banner ‘Mana Palana Mee Suchana’ on industries and investments in the state in the past one year. “We are happy to share that we are going to make an additional investment of $54 million for the upcoming project despite the Covid-19 pandemic. We will invest more and create more business opportunities in AP as we prosper,” he said. The company has given local employment to an extent of 85%.
Kia has been on a roll because of astronomical sales of the Seltos SUV and the encouraging response to the upmarket Carnival MPV, has an aggressive new product strategy in place. They are planning to launch the Sonet compact SUV by August-September 2020. This will rival the Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport, Mahindra XUV300, and Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza will be accessible with a range of options of powertrains, segment-leading kit and with an estimated ex-showroom price of Rs 7-12 lakh.
Anantapur plant which has an existing production capacity of 3 lakh units each year, the Korean carmaker has already invested around $1.1 billion (Rs 8,141 crore) in it. The additional investment is predicted to assist the company to increase production by around 1-1.5 lakh units because it expects a growth in sales and exports.
Kia had earlier said the company has a long-term commitment to the Indian market and invested $1.1 billion in the manufacturing plant at Anantapur. As the major objective behind Make In India, is to focus on job creation and skill enhancement, this would be the greatest step after the MOUs signed by the Tamil Nadu government at the time of recession due to Covid19.
“Our stakeholders, including suppliers and logistics partners, are all in-line with the current production and have assured us support in case we have to increase production volumes over the coming days,” Kookhyun Shim had earlier said.
