Kia Motors to roll out cars in Sep 2019

Anantapur: Kia Motors will start commercial production in September 2019. Presently, civil and engineering works are fast progressing in its upcoming car manufacturing unit at Penukonda. Kia is likely to commence trial production in January 2019, according to Kia Motors General Manager, Public Relations (PR), S D Park. 

Addressing a press conference at Hotel Grand Suraj here on Friday, Park said that the company is investing 1.1 billion US dollars in the Penukonda unit to roll out 3 lakh cars every year to meet the exclusive requirements of Indian customers. As many as 4,115 daily wage labourers are working in three shifts for building the automobile company and operations will begin from January 2019.

Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) is engaged in training 2,000 youth belonging to the district for the requirements of the company. As of now about 200 youth have completed their training. About 3,000 workforce would be recruited by the company to carry out its task of assembling 50 cars per hour.

The Kia cars known for their quality and style are being manufactured in the US, Slovakia, China and Mexico and Penukonda is the fifth of such a facility. These four countries have research centres and Penukonda too would host a research centre. The cars have their market in 180 countries. Kia has recently showcased its 16 top car models at their Kia Auto Expo-2018 in Delhi.

Kia Motors will also be promoting sports. Presently, it is promoting football and other games as part of it’s quest for encouraging youth in sports activities. Replying to a question, Park said that already 10 batches of skill development course had been completed.

The skill development course is a basic course for automobile industries undertaken jointly by Kia Automobiles and the APSSDC. Park stated that the impact of Kia Motors is evident already on the economy of the historical town of Penukonda and on the local government which is emerging cash rich with the factory paying taxes to the local panchayat. 

The demography of the town is fast changing with multiple hotels and shops and establishments dotting the grand old second capital of Vijayanagara Kingdom. Kia PR personnel Khushboo Gupta, M K Rajasekaran and G L Shyamsunder were also present.