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-   -   Kia Motors coming to India (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/173228-kia-motors-coming-india-15.html)

Recently I have been to the US and travelled (and also driven) in 11 states: Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. This has given me a fair idea of the cars on those roads.

A noticeable difference from the past (my last visit was in 2011, and lived there 1981-88, and 1992-94) is the increase of Korean cars: Hyundai and Kia. In fact from the Phoenix airport, we rented an Elantra and drove close to 2500 miles in it.

There were many Kia cars, mostly SUVs, on the roads, and they looked absolutely fabulous, at least from outside. It is obvious that the Americans have taken to these cars in a big way. And remember, some of these states (Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana) are what people call the heartland of US and many of them accepted Kia in preference to even American cars. In 2011, during my last visit, I started noticing a few Hyundai cars, but this time there were both these Korean brands present in plenty on American roads, uniformly across America, not just in the more cosmopolitan East Coast states.

Of course, the king of the cars in US is Toyota, approximately 25% of all cars on road there are Toyotas, so it seemed to me, followed (not very closely) by Honda.

I am eagerly waiting for the Kia cars on Indian roads. By the way, Kia Australia is still giving 7 year warranty and I have seen appreciable presence of Kia in Australia too during my visit a few years ago.

Not just the US, the Europeans are buying them in big numbers especially the Kia. Since they have a design center and the chief designer is a former BMW guy, the Germans have lapped it up with both hands. Hyundai is not that visible but kia for sure is. The general opinion is that Kia's are non-attention seeking, no nonse, reliable (7 yrs of warranty!!!) machines. Some of my colleagues who own some kias are pretty happy. The only faults I have heard from them are failing/fused bulbs which is a minor issue and costs nothing to replace.

Mechanically these vehicles are very robust when compared to the mighty Germans. I am not sure if Kia will come and set up shop in India with the same mindset or will be influenced by their bigger sister to water down some of the quality standards to keep the cost low. Only time can answer this question.

Certainly Kia has improved its image in US, though took them a while. Kia’s 10-year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty exudes confidence in their product. Extended warranty went well with consumers, when established players like Toyota’s and Honda’s were offering less than half of it. By the way I had chance to visit Kia plant based out of Georgia, my observation is that it’s basically a Hyundai car with a different badge :)

That sounds right. A friend who owns the largest MB dealership in the north has been confirmed as Kia’s dealer in the capital.
They are very excited as this would be a more profitable business with way higher volumes.
MBIL won’t be threatened as existing MB customers will only consider Kia as their second or third or sixth car if at all.

Dont they already have Kia Forte which is itself based on Hyundai Verna? Unless they are thinking of a cheap, made for India model?

Kia logo put on the wall of the Kia plant at Anantapur!





Link:

Taken from inside bus on our way to Hyderabad this past Thursday.


Great progress since the last time I saw the plant two months ago. The construction is at an advanced stage.

Forte is same as Elantra, not Verna. Drove Forte for couple of days, didnt like it and then drove Kia Soul which was better driving than Forte. Still they lack features on basic models in US and hope they will come to brim feature wise in India.

Why is part sharing being considered as a plus point? Why are we encouraging lazy manufacturers like Kia who have the resources but still just bring same engines to India which are already being used in Hyundai?? Is it too much to expect reliable engines from one of the big car manufacturers in the world?? These third world Indian versions of cars coming from Kia and do not deserve any success in India and I hope they don't get it.

This is the Reality! Globally auto manufacturers are consolidating the usage of engines, platforms and more, across companies and brands. VW, Skoda and Seat have almost the engine, platform combinations.

While Cross badging is not ideal, like say the Terrano & Duster, Micra & pulse etc, I see Kia using the base platform, chassis and engine, but yet arriving at a car that has their family look and also some mild changes in driving dynamics. If there is a Gap in the engine front, say like a turbo petrol, the Kia should offer that. Else why would anyone invest in an additional resource for developing a new 1.6 Diesel which Hyundai already has?

Kia opened their corporate office in Gurgaon recently, and yours truly was the lawyer who negotiated this deal:D

Great to hear that. Does that mean you will be able to strike a deal on the SP concept when it launches ? :-)

It's on DLF One Horizon, golf course road, right? I thought the office was open since last 6 months! The building has a big KIA logo prominently on display along with other notable brands having office there.

LOL...IF I do TBHP will be the first to know.

That is correct. The office opened a few months back.

I will be getting a drive in a very special KIA soon though. Will update as and when that happens.

Hey guys!

My dad rented the Kia soul in the USA recently. From initial impressions, he says that it reminds him of the KUV100 from Mahindra.

It comes with 2.0 litre engine mated with the 7-speed transmission in the USA. I doubt whether Kia is going to offer the same choice in India, if launched.:Frustrati

More details regarding the drive will be posted later, as he got it recently and hasn't driven it around much.

Here are some initial pictures:








Cheers,
Karthi.stark