Believe that slowdown in the automobile sector in India is temporary: Kia Motors official
Kolkata, Aug 23 (IBNS): A senior official of South Korean auto major Kia Motors on Friday said he feels that the current slowdown in the automobile sector in India is a temporary phase and a revival from the current situation will take place soon.
"The industry slowdown is there. However, we believe that this is temporary," Yong S Kim, Executive Director & CSO, Kia Motors India told IBNS on the sidelines of a launch here.
"Sooner or later, customer sentiment will be back and in the upcoming festival season, things will be revived," he said.
Yong S Kim was speaking at the launch of the Kia Seltos car in Kolkata.
The world's eighth-largest automakers launched its first product in the mid-SUV segment with this car in the Indian market.
The introductory price of the car is Rs. 9.69 lakh for the entry-level petrol smart stream G1.5 HTE model and going up to 15.99 lakhs for the diesel 1.5 CRDi HTX plus (6AT) and Petrol Samrtstrem 1.4 T-GdiGTX (7DCT) and GTX plus top-end variant.
The Seltos is a BS-VI compliant and available in both petrol and diesel variants.
Yong S Kim expressed confidence and said: "There is no good time or better time for a new entrant. We, Kia Motors, are ready to launch the Seltos. We are very much confident about our product."
Interestingly, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) recently said sale of Passenger Vehicles declined by (-) 21.56 percent in April-July 2019 over the same period last year.
Within the Passenger Vehicles, the sales for Passenger Cars, Utility Vehicle & Vans declined by (-) 26.45 percent, (-) 7.22 percent and (-) 30.97 percent respectively in April-July 2019 over the same period last year, said SIAM.
The overall Commercial Vehicles segment registered a decline of (-) 13.57 percent in April-July 2019 as compared to the same period last year. Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) declined by (-) 21.63 percent and Light Commercial Vehicles declined by (-) 8.56 percent in April-July 2019 over the same period last year.
Three Wheelers sales declined by (-) 7.43 percent in April-July 2019 over the same period last year. Within the Three Wheelers, Passenger Carrier sales registered a de-growth of (-) 8.02 percent and Goods Carrier declined by (-) 4.82 percent in April-July 2019 over April-July 2018.
Two Wheelers sales registered a de-growth of (-) 12.93 percent in April-July 2019 over April-July 2018. Within the Two Wheelers segment, Scooters, Motorcycles and Mopeds declined by (-) 15.58 percent, (-) 11.18 percent and (-) 20.17 percent respectively in April-July 2019 over April-July 2018.
(Reporting and Image By Supriyo Hazra/IBNS)
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