Kia Motors India has announced that it will be making an additional investment of US$ 54 million in Andhra Pradesh, where it has its manufacturing plant at Anantapur.

The announcement was made by Kookhyun Shim, chief executive officer and managing director, Kia Motors India at the Andhra Pradesh 'Mana Palana-Mee Suchana' program. He said, "We are happy to share that we will make an additional investment of US$ 54 million for our upcoming project despite the COVID-19 pandemic."

Kia, which is on a roll thanks to stellar sales of the Seltos SUV and the encouraging response to the upmarket Carnival MPV, has an aggressive new product strategy in place.

By August-September 2020, it plans to launch the Sonet compact SUV. This rival to the Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport, Mahindra XUV300 and Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, will be available with a wide variety of powertrains, segment-leading kit and with an estimated ex-showroom price tag of Rs. 700,000-1.2 million (US$ 9,250-15,850).

The Korean carmaker has already invested around US$ 1.1 billion in its Anantapur plant, which has an existing production capacity of 300,000 units per annum. The additional investment is expected to help the company ramp up production by around 100,000-150,000 units, as it expects to increase sales and exports.