Kia India retail sales up 33.27% in Aug, helped by consumer sentiment

Company says its performance is a good sign for the Indian automotive market

Kia India said on Thursday its retail sales increased by 33.27 per cent to 22,322 units in August, indicating improvement in supply chain constraints and healthy consumer sentiment.

The Korean carmaker’s retail sales in August 2021 were 16,750 units. Auto companies count dispatches to dealers as retail sales.

"The Seltos led Kia India's healthy performance in the month (August 2022) with 8,652 units, followed by the Sonet, Carens and Carnival with 7,838, 5,558 and 274 units, respectively," it said in a statement.

In the first eight months of 2022, the company sold 65.513 units of Seltos and 55,740 units of Sonet.

"The Carens has also kept its healthy momentum, with a contribution of 42,489 units at an average of over 6,000 units each month since its launch," Kia India said.

Kia India launched Carens on February 15 this year. Overall, it has sold more than 2.20 lakh units this year.

Hardeep Singh Brar, vice president and head of sales and marketing, Kia India, said that the company has been observing upward sales momentum since the beginning of this year, and it is a good sign for the Indian automotive market.

"Comparing the quarters, our monthly average so far for Q3 of 2022 stands at 7.8 per cent over Q2 and 10.9 per cent over Q1 of this year, indicating gradual improvement in supply chain constraints and healthy consumer sentiment," he said.

With the demand and supply curve staying positive, we are optimistic that an excellent festive season in terms of sales is ahead of us, Brar said.