Korean carmaker Kia upbeat on meeting sales target

Korean carmaker Kia on Tuesday said the ongoing second wave of Covid-19 is likely to impact car sales in the local market in the short term, but the company is on track to achieve its volume target this financial year. The passenger vehicle industry may not be able to reach average monthly sales of around 300,000 units, which it was hitting for the last six months, this month, but the recovery is expected to be quick once the spread is controlled, said Hardeep Singh Brar, vice-president and sales and marketing head at Kia India.

“While last year was the first time that a pandemic of this scale happened, the way we have bounced back gives a lot of assurance that again there will be a bounce-back,” he said. “How quickly it happens depends on how quickly the pandemic can be controlled.” Also, the business is not as much impacted as a year ago as the shutdowns are limited to some states and localities, Brar said. In comparison, April 2020 was a washout on account of the Covid-induced nationwide lockdown both in terms of wholesale and retail.