Kia Seltos SUV emerges as carmaker’s second best-selling model across the world
Kia Motors Corporation recordedglobalsalesof219,901unitsin July2020,a3percent decreasecompared tothe same period last year.
The Sportage SUVtoppedKia’sglobalsalesrankings,with30,949units sold, followed by the SeltosSUVwith28,241unitsandtheK3 (sold as Forte in some markets)with22,555units.
Sales in Korea maintained similar volume fromlastyear’s 47,080 units,with47,050 unitsin July 2020.Newmodels such astheall-newSorento SUV released in March andtheK5sedan(soldasOptimain some markets)released last Decembercontributedto theconsistency in demand.
Compared to July 2019, sales in overseas marketslast monthdecreased by3.7percent,to172,851units,affected byasluggish economyresulting fromtheongoingCOVID-19 pandemic.
Kiaexpectsrenewed sales momentum in the second half of the year thanks to a strong line-up of new models. These include the introduction ofthe Sonet Compact SUV in India,andthe new,fourth-generation Kia Carnival MPV (sold as Sedona in some markets).
Also check these Cars
In India, almost all of the credit for Kia’s sales would go to Seltos SUV, the company's debut product which was launched in August of 2019. Last month, Kia sold 8,502 units, out of which 8,270 were Seltos SUVs. It continues to be India’s second most favourite SUV after Hyundai Creta. In June, Kia managed to sell 7,114 units of the Seltos SUV.
Seltos has been a power performer for Kia over the course of the last several months even if May turned out to be as challenging for it as it was for any other vehicle in the Indian market. Sales came down to 1,611 units in the month which saw lockdown restrictions being gradually lifted.
Recently, Kia Seltos SUV also emerged as the most searched vehicle in India. According to a study by online content management platform SMErush, Kia Seltos was searched as many as 7.23 lakh times from January this year till June.
Earlier in June, Kia launched updated version of Seltos SUV in India with Emergency Stop Signal and Smart-Key Remote Engine Start as standard across all variants. Some of the lower variants now also come with sunroof.
