Chandrababu Naidu to launch trial run of Kia Motors today

Amaravati: The Korean automobile giant Kia Motors is all set to launch its first car, a SUV from its Anantapur plant on Tuesday. Kia Motors has created a record by commencing trial production in a record time of one year. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is going to launch the trial run of the first car along with Kia MD Shim in the presence of South Korea Ambassador to India HE Shin Bongkil.

The Kia greenfield car manufacturing plant will have an investment of over Rs 12,900 crore. Kia Motors along with the auto ancillaries from South Korea is one of the largest FDI that has been grounded in India in recent times. The plant will have initial installed capacity of 3 lakh vehicles per annum and may be further increased to 4 lakh.

The production volume will comprise 90 per cent domestic sales and 10 per cent exports. The Kia Motors will generate employment for 4,000 permanent employees and 7,000 temporary employees. The Kia Motors will also be collaborating with the Government of AP for developing an ecosystem for electric vehicles.

AP is one of the first few states to proactively bring out a very dedicated automobile and auto components policy in 2015 through backward areas ultra-mega integrated automobile projects policy. AP is one among the first to bring a dedicated policy for promoting manufacturing and adoption of electric vehicles. AP has presence of more than 100 auto component manufacturers.

AP has attracted committed investments of Rs 40,724 crore over the past 4.5 years in automobiles sector. With the presence of Kia Motors and its ancillaries, the entire region from Anantapur towards Bengaluru will be developed into a strong economic hub.