KIA Eyes India’s Growing SUV Market With SP Concept at Auto Expo

The KIA SP. 

(Photo: The Quint)

All eyes were on KIA Motors at the Auto Expo 2018, with the car manufacturer unveiling the SP concept – a compact SUV that KIA will likely develop into a product for the Indian market post 2019.

KIA is South Korea’s second-largest car company and a sister concern of Hyundai. It is setting up a plant in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, at a cost of over Rs 7,000 crore. The plant will have a production capacity of three lakh cars a year.

With SP, KIA is eyeing the lucrative compact SUV market in India, that has been growing at over 30 percent every year.

The highlight of KIA’s showcase at the Auto Expo are its range of hybrid and electric cars. It will have some full electric cars, as well as some plug-in hybrid vehicles on display. KIA has promised to offer a total of 16 electric and hybrid cars by 2025 in India.

KIA also showcased the 350+ bhp Stinger GT Sports sedan at the Auto Expo. The V6 powered sports sedan is likely to make its way to India later. They also brought a line-up of their global models to showcase at the Auto Expo.

Besides the KIA Stinger GT and the SP concept, KIA showcased a range of cars like the Soul EV, the Sorento, the MUV Carnival, SUV Sorento, Niro EV, Soul EV, Optima hybrid, Picanto, Rio, Stonic, Cerato, Cee'd GT and the Cadenza luxury sedan among other cars are some we can expect to see running on Indian roads in the future.

The KIA SP will be the first product to be rolled out by KIA in India next year.