After starting production of the SP SUV earlier this year at their plant in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh, Kia Motors India is now getting ready to launch the same. But ahead of that, the SUV will make its global debut on 20th June, at a gala event in Delhi. It is a global SUV, which will be bigger and more premium than the Hyundai Creta.
Already spied on test in production ready guise, Kia SP production name will be revealed on 20th June. There are reports which suggest that the SP SUV could be named Tusker. From the spy shots and official teaser sketches, the SUV looks wider, longer and taller than current Creta.
In the front it gets LED DRLs which are placed on the bonnet edge, lined across the entire width of the SUV. Below these are the LED projector headlights on either side. In between the headlights, is the famed tiger nose grille of Kia. On the side, the larger alloys, windows and taller stance of the Kia SP SUV is easily visible. Overall, the front looks really sharp and sporty.
On the inside, Kia SP SUV is finished in all black, with soft touch materials on the dashboard as well as door panels. Steering wheel, gear knob and seats are wrapped in leather with contrast stitching. It will get steering mounted controls, large touchscreen infotainment system with hi-res display, parking sensors with rear camera, rear AC vents, etc. Rear seats will be foldable, to increase boot space. They will also come with a 60-40 split and arm-rest.
Powering the Kia SP will be a new set of petrol and diesel engine options. These are new family of Hyundai engines, which have been specially developed for Indian market. Both are expected to be of 1.5 liter capacity, and BS6 compliant. Price of the Kia SP will be higher than that of Hyundai Creta. It will compete with the likes of Tata Harrier and MG Hector.
Kia Motors expects to carve a niche for itself in the Indian automobile sector and targets a position among the top 5 automakers in the country by 2021. This means that the Korean automaker is slated to take on Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motors besides Honda, Tata Motors and Mahindra. In order to achieve this target, Kia plans to launch 7 cars in India by 2021.
Kia Motors along with its vendor partners have invested US$2 billion into this new venture in India which will create 3,000 direct and around 7,000 indirect jobs in the region. The facility also sees construction of two vendor parks, one of which is located close to the plant while the other is around 20 kms away. Initial focus will be on domestic markets while the company also has plans to make exports a part of its plan with 10 percent production being for global markets.
