India is where Kia will ultimately make a leap forward, says CEO

Kia Motors, the South Korean automaker, needs to set up a factory in the counrty to tap growth in the domestic market and offset slowing sales in Russia and China, the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper quoted the company's chief executive as saying.

The country is expected to become the world's third largest auto market by 2016, according to industry data provider IHS. Kia Motors, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor, currently has no production in the country, and high import taxes mean Kia's domestic sales are also negligible.

By contrast, Hyundai has two factories in the country and is the second-largest automaker after Maruti Suzuki India.

"While growth in Russia or China is stagnating, India is where Kia will ultimately make a leap forward," Kia CEO Park Han-woo, a former head of Hyundai Motor's domestic unit, told the newspaper.

The report gave no further details and a Kia Motors spokesman said the carmaker had "no current plan to build a new factory in India or enter the market".

Park also said Kia was developing a rival to Toyota Motor's Prius hybrid cars, but gave no details. Hyundai Motor has said it plans to roll out a hybrid-dedicated model in 2015.

(Reuters)