Kia Seltos, launched in India in August 2019, has now become the best selling SUV in the segment. It has replaced Hyundai Creta, which was the best selling SUV earlier. Kia Seltos has not only eaten into sales of Creta, but also that of the likes of Jeep Compass and Tata Harrier.
Nominated for 2020 World Car of the Year award, the Kia Seltos is priced between Rs.9.69-16.99 lakhs in India. Sales in the month of Aug 2019 stood at 6,236 units. In Sep 2019 sales were at 7,754 units.
This compact SUV is presented in two trims – Tech Line and GT Line, multiple variants with 3 engine and 4 transmission options and gets a host of segment first features which has been one of the reasons for its outstanding success in the country.
Kia Seltos offers UVO Connect technology, which has 37 smart features. Kia Motors India has entered into an alliance with Vodafone Idea for these UVO connected services and every Seltos gets an embedded Vodafone SIM card with 37 car tech features.
These are classified under 5 sections of vehicle management, convenience, navigation, remote control, and safety and security. The system also supports AI based voice commands with remote engine start stop feature, remote controlled air purification, vehicle tracking in the event of theft and auto collision notifications.
Kia Seltos is produced from the company facility in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh in which the automaker has invested $1 billion. This plant caters to both domestic and export demands and Kia Motors has commenced its export operations. Kia has also signed an MoU with Hyundai Glovis and with the Chennai Port with exports to be undertaken exclusively from this port to countries such as South American, Middle Eastern and South Asian markets.
Following this success story as seen in the case of the Seltos, Kia Motors is poised to launch two more cars in the country – a premium MPV and compact SUV in the next one year. The new QYi compact SUV is being actively tested in the country with launch date scheduled for July 2020 while the Kia Grand Carnival MPV will be launched at the 2020 Auto Expo in February.
