Mumbai, Jan 12: Reinforcing its position as one of the leading enablers of tech-driven and connected mobility in the country, Kia India today announced a significant milestone of surpassing 500,000 connected cars on Indian roads. This achievement reflects strong customer adoption of Kia’s intelligent mobility ecosystem, with Connected Car variants now contribute nearly 40%of the company’s domestic wholesale volumes. Enabled by Kia Connect 2.0 with ccNC, this success underscores Kia India’s growing leadership in delivering seamless, digital-first mobility experiences.
The Kia Seltos continues to be the primary contributor to this milestone, accounting around 70% of Kia’s total Connected Car sales. The Sonet and Carens also play a significant role in this milestone, closely trailing Seltos and highlighting the broad-based demand for connected features across Kia India’s portfolio.
Commenting on Kia’s technology leadership in automotive industry, Mr. Atul Sood, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Kia India, said, “Kia India has consistently differentiated itself through its vehicle design excellence and technology leadership. Our continued focus on enhancing connected features and customer engagement initiatives such as Kia Drive Green has strengthened adoption and interaction across our connected ecosystem. The strong customer retention beyond the complimentary subscription period underscores the sustained relevance and long-term value of Kia Connect”.
The current retention trend indicates that customers are returning for renewals due to their satisfaction with the experience of the connectivity features. Kia has remained at the forefront of introducing advanced Connected Car technologies, with some of the most popular customer-used features including:
- Connected Car Navigation Cockpit: Delivers intuitive interfaces, seamless connectivity, and advanced OTA capabilities to keep the vehicle updated with the latest software and apps for a safer, smoother drive
- Plant Over-The-Air (OTA) Updates: Seamlessly updates vehicle software remotely at the plant, ensuring connected cars are delivered with latest features and ready-to-drive from day one
- Over-the-Air (OTA) Software Updates with Kia Remote Diagnostics : Remote vehicle diagnostics and Over-The-Air updates, reducing dealership visits.
- Digital Key 2.0: Smartphone or smartwatch-based access and driving using UWB or NFC technology
- Surround View Monitor (SVM): Real-time 360-degree vehicle view via the Kia Connect app, enhancing safety even when away from the vehicle
- Multilingual Voice Recognition Support: Control vehicle functions using voice commands in multiple languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali, with more commands coming soon.
With the introduction of electric vehicles, Kia India has further strengthened its connected ecosystem, achieving 100% connected car penetration in the EV segment. Popular EV-specific connected features include:
- Drive Green: A gamified engagement platform that visualises customers’ eco-impact through virtual tree growth
- Kia Smart Connected Home Chargers: Fast, connected home charging solutions available in 7.4 kW and 11 kW options