Gurugram: KIA South Korean car maker plans to come out with a detailed strategy on electric vehicles for the Indian market next year, a company senior official said on Thursday.
The company, which launched all new models – Carens – for the Indian market, is considering all aspects related to the electric vehicle segment (EV) before going out with the final blueprint.
“At this time, we are studying because there are many factors …
such as prices, ranges, filling infrastructure.
So we see all the double angles and somewhere next year we will announce our EV strategy,” Kia India Vice President and Head.
(Sales and marketing) Hardeep Singh Brar told PTI in interaction.
Asked whether there might be some synergy with Hyundai about the EV segment, he noted: “On the backend yes we have a lot of synergy but when we go to the market where we play our own games.
They have their line-up, we have ours.” Earlier this month, Hyundai announced plans to invest around Rs 4,000 Crore to drive around six evins in India in 2028.
Asked about sales forecasts, Brar noted that car makers viewed around 30 percent of next year’s growth compared to 2021.
“We will close the year It’s about 2.25 units of lakh, domestic and export put together.
And next year our plan is to sell 3 lakh units, “he said.
Asked about how much Carens would contribute to the overall sales of the company ahead, Brar noted that it was premature to put the current number but the vehicle would compete in a growing segment with a contribution of around 15 percent in the overall domestic sales of passenger vehicles.
“If we look at the industry this year, it will be around 30 lakh units and next year must be 33-34 lakh so that 15 percent of this will be 4.5 lakh units this year and maybe one lakh more in 2022.
So it is a fairly large room to be on, “he said.
With a lack of chips, Brar noted that the situation is expected to be better next year.
He said the company did anything to reduce the waiting period on his vehicle, which has been fired due to production problems due to lack of semiconductors.
“The waiting period for the Seltos is four months now.
Hopefully next year we will produce more,” Brar said.
He added that because the old waiting period, the company had witnessed about 20 percent of the cancellation of order so far.
Outlining the infrastructure expansion of sales, Brar stated that the company planned to have 400 touch points in 225 cities next year.
The company has a presence in 198 cities with 339 touch points.