By Park Jin-hai
Kia Motors will start selling cars in Mexico from next month, according to the company, Wednesday.
Korea’s second-largest car maker said in statement that it officially launched 21 dealerships in 10 cities, during a press conference in Mexico City Tuesday.
Those dealers will start selling Kia cars from July 1, and the number of dealerships will grow to 65 by 2017, the company said.
The K3 (locally called the Forte), Sportage and Sorento will be sold there. The new version of the K5 to be launched here in July will be available to customers in Mexico during the second half of this year as well.
Mexico, the world’s seventh-largest market in terms of annual car production, has one of the fastest growing automotive markets as well. Mexico sold 1.14 million cars last year, from 990,000 in 2012 and 1 million in 2013.
The country has remained an untapped market for Kia, due to trade barriers including a prohibitive 20-percent tariff.
However, thanks to the plant the company is currently building in Mexico, the K3 will be shipped from Korea tariff-free, while the Sportage and Sorento will be imported from its plants in Europe and America.
Kia will offer the longest warranty, of seven years or 150,000 kilometers, for its powertrains for the first time among automakers that have entered the market.
"Kia cars will be competitive in the country, because we offer the highest quality, innovation and safety, which are key difference we have from our rivals,” said Kia’s Vice President Oh Tae-Hyun.
The company’s strategic model, the K3 sedan, will compete against the Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus and Mazda Mazda3 for market share there.
In October, Kia Motors started the construction of a plant with an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles in Nuevo Leon of Mexico. Its construction is currently 50 percent complete.
The company plans to start its operation during the first half of next year, by beginning to produce the K3 there.
The cars to be produced at the plant will be sold in the U.S. and Canada as well as Latin American markets, the company said.
Yoo Ji-woong, Taurus Investment & Securities analyst, predicted that Kia will benefit from the Mexican market. “The monthly sales in Mexico have been on the rise over the past five months, hitting the all time high of 102,000 in May,” he said. “Kia’s global sales will be 3.1 million this year, up 100,000 from the previous year.”