Kia Motors, World’s 8th largest automaker and a new entrant to Indian auto industry is building one of the largest manufacturing plant in India. Located in Penukonda which is in Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh, the Kia Motors India facility is just about 160 Kms away from Kempegowda International Airport, Bangalore and is situated right in front of the National highway that connects Hyderabad from Bangalore.
GaadiKey was invited to Kia Motors India plant and we observed this humungous facility which housed over 3000 plus workers, cutting-edge machineries, technology and the huge infrastructure/process that is necessary for building a car. Kia Motors Plant which is being built at an investment of 1.1 billion USD (10,000 crores) is spread over 540 acres of land of which 110 acres are used by Kia Affiliates and Suppliers. Major part of the plant is complete and in 5-6 months time, the facility will be 100% done.
We navigated through various building utilities required for production namely press shop, mold shop, body shop, paint shop, engine shop and assembly unit. The engine shop which we entered was buzzing with Korean and Indian workers with various machineries and robots. The plant has an annual product capacity of 3,00,000 units when operated in 3 shifts. The large KIA logo erected in front of the building bags everyone’s attention for sure.
We observed Kia Motors has a clear roadmap for one of their upcoming models which is SP2i. The launch of SP2i is expected in September 2019. There will be new products to come following SP2i.
Kia Motors India also has a dedicated training centre opposite to the plant where Basic technical course for automobiles industry is offered in association with the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC). The program which is given for a week aims to train over 2000 students and qualified students will be taken as trainees to the plant. More than 10,000 jobs are expected to be created.
We also got a chance to test their Kia Carnival 7-seater SUV/MUV – one of their products in International line-up.
We were amazed to see the impact of Kia Motors’ entry to India and how it is flourishing a new kind of ecosystem that is good for business and economy. You can check more photos taken at the facility below.
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