Will Export 20% Of Kia Carens Production Volume: Kia

The South-Korean automaker Kia Motors recently unveiled the Carens MPV which will be their third mass-market model for India. The company has also announced that the model will be launched in the first quarter of 2022. The Carens which will be a global model from the brand will be solely manufactured in India.

Kia announced that India will be the mother plant for the production of Carens. While adding to it the automaker also revealed that 20 percent of the MPVs produced here will be exported. These Carens will be exported to right-hand drive as well the left-hand drive international markets like Indonesia and Latin America.

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It was also stated by Kia that their primary focus for the sale of Carens is the Indian market, however, they will explore other international markets as well. The company added that they will first focus on providing the Indian market and meet their demands and after which they will export to the rest of the markets. The Carens will be manufactured in the company’s facility in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.

Currently, the production capacity of the Anantapur plant is 3,00,000 units annually with workers working two shifts. But the company is in plans to ramp up the production, Kia India’s VP and head of sales and marketing Hardeep Singh Brar said, “We are likely to close the year at around 2,25,000 units for both domestic sales and exports combined.” He added, “With the launch of the Kia Carens, we’ll increase our production capacity to three shift operations early next year. Next year, we plan to do about 3,00,000 units, both domestic and exports put together,”

While mentioning the ongoing semiconductor shortages Brar added, “But again, it will depend on how quickly we are able to ramp up supply. The situation is expected to remain tight for the next couple of months, so it’s more of a wait and watch at this point in time,”

The new Carens will come with a hi-secure safety package, which will be standard across all trims. This will be a first of a kind for India. This package will include six airbags, making it one of the safest vehicles in India. The MPV will come with a host of features like a 10.25 inch HD touchscreen navigation with Kia Connect, Bose premium sound system with 8 speakers, Smart Pure air purifier with virus and bacteria protection, Multi-drive modes (Sport/Eco/Normal) linked with ambient mood lighting and SkyLight sunroof.

On the safety front, it will also come equipped with electronic stability control (ESC), vehicle stability management (VSM), hill-assist control (HAC), downhill brake control (DBC), and all-wheel disc brakes.

The Carens will share its powertrains with the outgoing Seltos models, which has the options of a 1.4-litre, four-cylinder turbo petrol, 1.5-litre, four-cylinder naturally-aspirated petrol and the 1.5-litre, four-cylinder diesel engines. These powerplants will be mated to a standard six-speed manual transmission but there will be options for a DCT in petrol variants as well as a six-speed torque converter automatic gearbox in the diesel variant.

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