How Seltos' dominance continues to help Kia wade through troubled lockdown water
March may have been a month to forget for almost every major automotive company in India and the world over but Kia Motors has managed to find reasons to celebrate even in the current gloom due to the coronavirus pandemic. While almost half the month saw a national lockdown in the country which resulted in production coming to a halt and demand mostly falling to a trickle, the company managed to sell 8,583 units with Seltos SUV powering the South Koreans here.
Kia made its India debut in 2019 with the Seltos and the SUV quickly raced to find favour among buyers at large. Since its launch in August, the SUV has been a strong performer for the company and has managed to keep momentum by its side. March saw the Seltos becoming the largest-selling SUV for the third consecutive month with 7,466 units of the vehicle being sold. While this number is significantly lower than the 14,024 units of the SUV sold in February, considering the national lockdown in place, the figures would still give Kia something to cheer about. The South Koreans in India had stopped its wholesale billings on March 16 owing to the global pandemic and countrywide lockdown.
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Overall, Kia's sales fell from 15,644 in February but such drastic spirals have been reported by almost every OEM in the country and was obviously expected due to the national lockdown. The company's other offering in India - Carnival MPV - sold 1,117. This is down from 1,620 units in February for a vehicle that was officially launched at Auto Expo 2020.
Seltos and Carnival combined have helped Kia retain the number 3 spot in the Indian automobile industry.
Kia has now also stated that it stands with the entire automobile industry and is working with the state and central government to extend all possible support and assistance to fight and overcome the situation that has emanated from the coronavirus pandemic. The company has already extended all such warranties that were expiring in the lockdown period and claims it is going the extra mile to help any customer in need of help in current times.
