Kia, India's leading premium carmaker, today announced its network expansion to 522 touchpoints across 236 cities. With the largest brand touchpoints among new entrants, the company is focused on strengthening its presence in Tier 1 and 2 markets, contributing 40% to Kia's total network strength.
Kia India is also focused on expanding its touchpoints in the Tier 4 and upcountry markets, which make up 46% of Kia's network capacity in India. Aiming to enhance its accessibility to a more extensive audience base, the company plans to expand its network strength to close to 700 touchpoints in 300 cities by the end of 2024.
Kia's network strategy in India involves strengthening its sales and service touchpoints alike. Currently, Kia India has 337 Sales points, 350 Workshops, and 59 Certified Pre-owned outlets. Kia intends to increase its Certified Pre-owned network to 100 outlets by the end of 2024.
Furthermore, the company also provides its aftersales services through 54 Mobile Workshops for upcountry towns and 110 Service Cars in big cities to cater to the needs of urban customers for doorstep service. The pick & drop facility has been on the uprise and now stands at 33% of total service requests.
In a stride towards sustainability, Kia India has designated 20 Green Workshops across the country. These workshops fulfil 80% of their energy requirements through solar power, further supporting an EV AC charging unit.
Additionally, they champion 100% recycling of water utilized in their operations and actively engage in rainwater harvesting. Looking ahead, the company aims to establish an additional 40 Green workshops by year-end and scale up to 150 by 2026. Mr. Hardeep Singh Brar, National Head Sales & Marketing, Kia India, commented, “The car buying experience revolves around accessibility and convenience, which customers expect from a carmaker.
In our country, purchasing a car is the second most important decision after buying a house, and to make this moment memorable, we have expanded our touchpoints network from 285 to 522 since starting our operations in India. As part of Kia's 2.0 strategy, we are aiming to close the year with over 700 touchpoints, thereby making Kia more accessible to our esteemed customers.”
He also added, “We are also committed to sustainability by introducing the green workshop concept and encouraging all our dealer partners to transition to eco-friendly workshops. With the launch of EV6, Kia has also appointed EV special dealerships.
The personnel of these dealerships are specially trained in the intricacies of EVs. Currently, Kia operates more than 150 sales points to sell EVs in India. Recently, Kia EV9 has been recognized as the ‘World Car of the Year’ & ‘World Electric Vehicle’ at the 2024 World Car Awards held in the New York Auto Show this week.
About - Kia India
In April 2017, Kia India signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State Government of Andhra Pradesh, India, to build a new manufacturing facility at Anantapur District. Kia commenced mass production in August 2019 and has an annual production capacity of 300,000 units. In April 2021, Kia India reimagined itself in line with its new brand identity, “Movement that Inspires” aimed at offering customers meaningful experiences backed by innovative products and services.
Under the new brand identity, Kia has set out to find ways to achieve new benchmarks and inspire consumers to be more and do more. Till date, Kia India has launched five vehicles for the Indian market – the Seltos, the Carnival, the Sonet, the Carens, and the EV6. Kia India has completed over 1.16 million vehicle dispatches from its Anantapur plant, including over 9.1 lakh domestic sales and close to 2.5 lakh exports.
With almost 3.8 lakh connected cars on Indian roads, it is among the connected Car leaders in the country. The brand has a widespread network of 522 touchpoints across 236 cities and is focused on strengthening its footprints across the country.