Senior Vice President Atul Sood reflects on how 369 cities and 821 touchpoints changed the equation
When December behaved unlike the rest of the year, Kia India paused to examine what had changed beneath the surface. After a calendar year marked by steady but measured movement, the final month delivered a sharp departure from the prevailing trend, forcing a closer look at how demand, distribution, and execution aligned at precisely the right moment.
The carmaker closed Calendar Year 2025 with wholesale volumes of 280,286 units, a 15 percent increase over the previous year. While that growth reflected consistency across most months, December stood apart. Wholesale dispatches for the month reached 18,659 units, more than double the volumes recorded in December 2024. The divergence was significant enough to reframe how the year would ultimately be read, not as a linear climb, but as a year where structure and readiness mattered more than pace.
According to Atul Sood, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing, the December outcome was less about a sudden surge in demand and more about alignment across multiple levers. Product mix optimisation, calibrated trim strategies across high-volume models, and an expanded retail and service footprint converged at a time when consumer sentiment showed visible improvement. The result was a month that behaved differently from the rest of the calendar.
Much of that stability during the year came from familiar nameplates. The compact SUV Kia Sonet crossed the 100,000-unit sales mark for the second consecutive year, providing a dependable base in a highly competitive segment. Alongside it, the Kia Seltos and the Kia Carens continued to contribute steadily, helping smooth volatility even when monthly demand patterns fluctuated. Newer additions such as the Carens Clavis and Carens Clavis EV added incremental momentum, while premium offerings like the Carnival Limousine and EV6 catered to a narrower but consistent buyer cohort.
What amplified December’s impact, however, was the scale of Kia India’s distribution network by the end of the year. The company expanded its presence to 369 cities with 821 touchpoints, a reach that fundamentally altered how demand translated into wholesales. Wider geographic coverage meant that improved sentiment was not confined to a handful of urban centres, but could be converted into volumes across multiple markets simultaneously.
This distribution depth allowed the company to respond faster and more evenly as buying intent firmed up. Rather than relying on aggressive incentives or short-term pushes, Kia’s December performance reflected the payoff from having sales, service, and logistics infrastructure already in place. The network expansion was not built for a single month, but December became the clearest demonstration of its value.
Looking ahead, the company expects this structural base to play a central role in 2026. The recently introduced new Seltos is positioned to carry forward momentum in the SUV category, supported by the consistent performance of Sonet and Carens variants. The focus, Sood indicated, remains on value-led offerings and strengthening the ownership experience rather than chasing volume spikes in isolation.
In that sense, December did more than lift the year-end numbers. It offered a glimpse into how preparation, reach, and portfolio balance can reshape outcomes when conditions align. For Kia India, the clearest signal of 2025 arrived not in the middle of the year, but at its very end.
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