RESEARCH PROJECT

ON KIA
MOTORS

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

DR. SHYAMSUNDER CHITTA AMARPREET SINGH PRUTHI
19021141015

SECTION A
ABOUT KIA MOTORS INDIA
The company has entered the Indian market in July 2019 with their 'Made for India' SUV-
SP2 Concept now announced as the global mid-sized SUV Kia Seltos. The company has built
a production facility on a Greenfield land in Anantpur district, Andhra
Pradesh near Penukonda. The annual production capacity is 300,000 units. Kia Motors has
appointed Kookhyun Shim as MD & CEO for its Indian arm.
There is also an upward movement in the economy with a growing middle class. These are
the set of consumers who are aspirational and are demanding products which differentiates
them from the masses. This middle class is the opportunity that Kia Motors is focusing on in
the next five years.
Seltos is aimed directly at millennials and "youthful, tech-savvy buyers" looking for a vehicle
that stands out from the crowd.
Sibling rivalry may have been a reason why Kia didn't come to India earlier. However, the
advantage Kia has over Hyundai is that we are entering India at a time when it has become a
far more mature market.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:
To find out the performance of Kia motors in India.
To find out the reviews of customers about Kia Seltos.
To find out satisfaction of customer with the purchase of Kia Seltos.
To find out the factors that play an important role in the demand of Kia Seltos in India.

Research Variables:
Dependent Variable: Sales of Kia Seltos, Demand for Kia Seltos and Purchase intentions,
Price, Bookings for Kia Seltos etc..
Independent Variable: Attitude, Age and Income of the buyers of Kia Seltos, Features,
Design of the car.
Moderating Variables: Family Influence and Education levels of the buyers of Kia Seltos.
Intervening Variables: Performance and Utility offered by Kia Seltos, Taxes/GST levied by
the government.
Hypothesis Formulation:
H0: People are buying Kia Seltos.
H1: People are not buying Kia Seltos.

H0: People are satisfied after buying Kia Seltos.

H1: People are not satisfied after buying Kia Seltos.

H0: The Sales will increase in Future.

H1: The Sales will not increase in Future.

H0: Kia Motors India has achieved the goal of becoming one of the top 5 Car
Manufacturers.
H1: Kia Motors India has not achieved the goal of becoming one of the top 5 Car
Manufacturers.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
Qualitative Research Methodology has been adopted to understand the perception of
customers on the usage/ performance of Kia Motors in India after its recent launch in
August 2019.
Will take the help of secondary data to study the above stated research objectives. The
same data will be analysed and interpreted to get some insights about Kia Motor’s
performance in India.
FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR KIA SELTOS’ DEMAND

The list of factors and features that are majorly responsible for the demand of Kia Seltos is
given below
Aggressive Pricing Strategy
Modern Looks
Increase in incline towards Compact SUV
Built Quality
Luxurious Car
Good Handling
Multiple variant availability
Increased Income of the prospective buyers
Affordable
Soft suspension for Plush ride
Good Visibility
Top Notch Braking Effectiveness with ABS and all 4 Disc Brakes
Tiger nose front grille
17 inch alloys
Impressive Side Profile
Electric Sunroof
Ambient Mood light
Much Better Legroom Space in Front and Rear
Good under thigh Support
Rear AC Vent
Recline Rear Seats in 2 Position
Smart 20.32cm (8.0") Heads-up Display
BS6 Compliant Engine
26.03cm (10.25") HD touchscreen
Unbeatable Technology (that is they are offering Air Purifier, ventilated and power seats, 360 degree view
camera etc.)
Bose Premium sound system

DATA COLLECTED *(D’x’ refers to ‘x’ point number of Data collected)*

D1) Marketing Performance:

Barely four months after the launch of its first product on Auggust 22, the Seltos SUV, the
company has grabbed a near 5 percent SUV market share in October, the seltos notched its
best monthly sales in November of 14005 units.
Cumulative sales for the November was 14005 units and their sale from August to October
2019 period add up to 26576 units, which is really good for a new entrant and is a sign of
growth and liking among the customers.
The sales figures for the past four months have been given below.
Moreover, the carmaker reportedly sold 2184 Seltos SUV on the festival of Dhanteras
(October 25th ,2019) which is popular in India for purchase of a new vehicle.

D2) REVIEWS:
The reviews have been taken from various credible sources such as Carwale, Cardekho,
NDTV CareNbike, ET Auto Zigwheels etc. where the existing customers as well as potential
customers of Kia Seltos have posted their experience with the car. They have also shared
their views about the car and their buying experience.
Some of the customers have positive views and some have negative reviews as shown
below:
Review 1

Review 2

Review 3
Review 4

Review 5

Review 6
Review 7

Review 8

Review 9
Review 10

Review 11

Review 12
Review 13

Review 14
The thing observed is that for every 10 positive reviews there is only one negative review. People
have mostly given positive reviews.

Overall Ratings:
The overall ratings on various websites based on all the reviews that have been recorded by
the existing and potential customers have been given below source wise

CAR DEKHO:

CARWALE:
ZIGWHEELS:
CAR AND BIKE:

So, almost all the credible sources have shown that people have recorded positive reviews about Kia
Seltos.

D3) SALES TREND:

The sales have been continuously growing for the past four months since the Kia Motors
have entered in the Indian Car Market.
The above graph shows the sales of Kia Motors India for the past four months. It is evident
that the sales have been increasing continuously since the Seltos has been launched. In
August, 2019 it sold around 6236 units which increased to 7754 units in September which is
around 24% growth. In October it sold 12864 units (a 66% growth) and in November it sold
14005 units (a 9% growth on previous year).
The trend of the sales is likely to follow as according to ETnow, Kia says, till date, it has
received 86,840 bookings for the Seltos SUV.

D4) GOAL OF BECOMING ONE OF THE TOP 5

CARMAKERS
South Korean carmaker Kia Motors, when entered in India in August, it had a goal of
becoming one of the top five car manufacturer in India.

It is evident that Kia stormed into the list of top five carmakers in the country in terms
of market share in October, leaving behind established players such as Toyota Kirloskar
Motors and Honda Cars India at a time when most carmakers are struggling to tackle the
slowdown.

With its single product Seltos, Kia Motors gained a market share of 4.52% by selling 12,850
units during the month. This market has increased further in November, 2019
FINDINGS/INTERPRETATIONS

HYPOTHESIS 1:
As observed from the sales data (refered in point D1) of the last four months and the market
performance, we can conclude that people are buying Kia Seltos.
Therefore, we fail to reject the Null Hypothesis that people are buying Kia Seltos.

HYPOTHESIS 2:
As evident from (point D2), the reviews taken from various credible sources like Carwale,
Cardekho, NDTV CareNbike, ET Auto Zigwheels etc. where the existing customers as well as
potential customers of Kia Seltos have posted their experience with the car, we come to
know that most of the individuals are satisfied with Kia Seltos. Only few reviews are there
where the customer has experienced negative things.
So, we conclude that people are satisfied after purchasing Kia Seltos. Therefore, we fail to
reject the Null Hypothesis that people are satisfied after buying Kia Seltos.

HYPOTHESIS 3:
The sales trend of Kia Motors have been in the upward direction (point D3), the sales have
been increasing and it is likely to grow in the future also as more than 86000 bookings have
already received by Kia Motors.
Therefore, we fail to reject the Null Hypothesis that Sales will increase in future.

HYPOTHESIS 3:
As suggested by the data (point D4) that Kia Motors in October itself became one of the top
carmakers in India. And it has gained Market Share of 5% in November which has helped it
to remain in the category of top 5 Car Manufacturers in India.
Therefore, we fail to reject the Null Hypothesis that Kia Motors India has achieved the goal
of becoming one of the top 5 car manufacturer.
SUGGESTIONS

Kia Motors India needs to work on offering the features that the competitors are already
giving such as it should include Drive Modes in diesel transmission.
It should also focus on enhancing safety of the passengers as it only offers 2 airbags in base
variant whereas other cars in the same price bracket is offering around 4-6 airbags.
As a lot of customers are complaining about some cabin noise in the car while travelling on
rough patches of road, the company should look into the same and rectify the problem to
satisfy the unsatisfied customers.
It should work on plastic quality at dashboard and door handle that feels really average.
Moreover, Kia India should launch the EV model already existing in other countries as the
government is offering various benefits on the production of EVs.

CONCLUSION

Kia Motors is performing really well despite the current slowdown in India. The customers
who have purchased Kia Seltos have positive perception about the usage and the quality of
the car. Most of the customers are of the view that Kia Seltos is a value for money product.
Kia Motors should focus on the customers should take into considerations the views/ needs
of the customers to remain competent in the dynamic Indian Automobile industry.
THANK YOU