[sunikkat]

1.3 crores for a Kia!!! “Hyundai yeh tune kya Kia”
And also what is that alloy wheel design!!


On a serious note, at this price will it be able to sell even a single unit. They are indeed competing with big brands and who will really consider a Kia at that price. Excited to see the sales numbers for future months, mainly Kia on EV9 and Carnival.

As few others already mentioned this might be a marketing strategy too. Though same company, both Hyundai and Kia operate and compete separately in Indian market. And Kia is clearly loosing to Hyundai in Creta segment. Now, for the uninformed customers, Kia sales people can actually say that Kia is a premium brand and has higher entry and much higher exit point compared to Hyundai. Might help in some sales too.

[Vikash Kumawat]

Kia literally picked up a plastic triangle and used it as an alloy on EV9, weirdest alloys ever seen...
One more dead on arrival product added in this list -
1. Skoda superb
2. Nissan Xtrail
3. Kia Carnival
4. Kia EV9

[KeepItSimple]

Does this get a spare wheel ?

Happy motoring !

[akg7091]

almost all Kia dealer principals will soon have a EV9 as their main "luxury" vehicle. Nobody in their right senses will buy this when they can get an EQS/GLS/X7 instead. The poor DPs will be forced to buy this to keep getting regular stocks of the seltos

[AyushB]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

This is perhaps the highest "India price premium" I have seen of any vehicle in recent times.

The EV9 sells for between 60K to 76K USD in the US. That translates to 50-62 lakhs INR. Granted, the variant launched here is the top-end GT-R AWD, which costs 76K USD there. So, the premium is an astronomical 110% above US prices!

So the vehicle that an average suburban family in the US with 3-4 kids uses as a daily runaround will be used by a lone cahuffer-driven VVIP here, wanting to show off how fat their wallet is.

Mercedes EQS 580 sells for around $128,000 or around Rs. 1.05 Cr there and in India they have priced it at Rs. 1.4 Cr. So a premium of around 40%, but KIA is charging more than double. Simply mindboggling. I guess this car & Carnival Prices are a marketing ploy to push KIA towards a more premium segment to differentiate themselves from Hyundai.

[thomahawk]

The brand lacks snob value - who would aspire to own one of these? They should have launched the car under a different brand. Don't think anyone would buy this even if their 'bad boy' brand ambassadors were delivering it. Maybe they should have made it bullet proof for a change, taking a leaf out of the Cybertruck's playbook. That would have made it enticing enough for the real bad boys.

[supertinu]

I know many on the forum are calling this DOA, but I dont think KIA has any other intent. They never had any intentions of selling EV9 in numbers, this is a purely a brand building exercise and pushing KIA towards a more premium brand. This launch is more of creating a halo effect on the brand.

Someone pointed out that in US this car costs 75K USD which by US standards is fairly expensive, more expensive than Tesla model 3 and Y. But 10yrs ago how many would have imagined that a KIA the lowest cost brand in the market could get to that price point. In India KIA already has a good base brand, this will allow them to venture 30-50 lacs price point in future more easily.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by GTO

But as much as Kia rocks with its local products, it is totally out of tune with the CBUs. The EV9 will cost 1.4 crores on-the-road. At that price, it is competing with the greats like Land Rover Defender, BMW X5 M40i M-Sport, Mercedes GLS / EQS and many others (including Porsche). And remember, whoever can spend 1.4 crores on a car can easily spend another 30-lakhs on the mighty Range Rover Sport Diesel (1.67 crores on the road).

The benefit for Kia is, they can proclaim that they are a costly luxury brand but people can buy the brand at around 10Lakh also - by buying their cheaper models.

Remember what happened to Tata when they introduced world's cheapest car Nano - people associated the "cheapest" brand tag with Tata. Sales of the entire Tata range plummeted to such a low level.

Here, the opposite is aimed, IMO.

But if they really think that they are at par with the others you mentioned, they are living in a world of their own.

[darkchild82]

The EV9 got great reviews all around but sorry... it's dead on arrival in India. I know the CBU import route is why it costs Rs. 1.3 crores but the people with that kind of money are not going to spend a crore on a KIA, no matter how great the car might be. Any 1 crore+ vehicle is exclusively the territory of the luxury brands -- and KIA is not!

[Newtown]

The design does not appeal to me at all. Also clearly visible are plastic that will wear off in no time with use in our conditions.

Price - Even with 70% duty on CBU's (given Kia already has minimum committed investment in India) this could easily have been priced at 85 to 90 Lakhs ex showroom. However, even at that price point, would not touch it with a 10-foot barge pole.

[lemedico]

I said this on the X trail thread, and I'll say it again-
Anyone who actually buys this is invited to my hospital for a complementary health check up.

[atomic2004]

Keeping the ridiculous pricing aside, I like those alloy wheels. I know many would hate the design but I'm a sucker for quirky looking wheels and those do fit the overall design of the car.

[darkgamer]

Originally Posted by Newtown

Price - Even with 70% duty on CBU's (given Kia already has minimum committed investment in India) this could easily have been priced at 85 to 90 Lakhs ex showroom.

The import duty is 100%, not 70%. 70% only applies to vehicles costing under $40k

As someone above mentioned that this vehicle costs $76k in US, which is roughly 64 lakh rupees. Add 100% import duty and its 1.28 cr. Add 5% GST and it’s 1.34cr.

So actually Kia has priced it not too terribly. It’s just CBUs just don’t make any sense in India given the duty structure. Anytime I see a car is CBU (recent launches being Skoda Superb and X-Trail) I know bad pricing is coming.

The government’s 15% duty scheme for EVs has also been a big failure, as expected from any Indian government scheme. Too little, too late and too much asterisks.

[avisidhu]

As few others mentioned, this is likely intentional by Kia. Looks like they are using this opportunity to move the perceived value of Kia brand upwards.

We were keen on booking the EV9 as our next car around 6 months ago, but all Kia dealerships flat out said don't expect delivery before 2 years. With the kind of demand it has generated in the west, highly doubtful that Kia has inventory to spare for India anyway. So why not use it as a halo product to improve their brand positioning?

PS: to each his own, but it looks quirky in really good way in flesh. The Ioniq5 appreciation club will concur.

[Hayek]

Am amazed people are comparing EQS pricing (which is a CKD) with that of the EV9 (which is a CBU). Mercedes decision to assemble locally incurs a higher fixed cost and requires more scale - but leads to much lower duties. A CBU attracts 100% customs duties plus GST. With uncertainty about the future direction of GST for high end EVs, it makes no sense for Kia to invest in assembling the EV9 here. Ergo, they launch a CBU a for those who are willing to pay the full price.

We have seen people willing to pay up for the right car. I bought an Ioniq 5 for ₹46 l - but several others in our building bought the CBU AWD EV6 for ₹ 66 l. That is a nearly 50% premium for a car that sells for ₹5 l more like for like. The fact is that as long as our tax regime keeps changing based on the whims and fancies of our politicians and bureaucrats, companies won’t make investments in niche products. Those who want such products will pay - and CBU imports give brands an ability to target them at low fixed cost.