Kia's Carens selected as Car of Year in India

Kia Corp. won the "Car of the Year in India" for the first time in three years and five months after entering the Indian auto market.

Kia said Sunday that its strategic multi-purpose vehicle model Carens has been named India's Car of the Year. The Carens beat the Scorpio-N of Mahindra and the Grand Vitara of Maruti Suzuki.

Meanwhile, the Kia EV6 was selected in the "Green Car" category, granting two awards for the carmaker.

"Car of the Year is one of the most prestigious awards in the Indian automobile sector, and it has a great influence on local consumers' decision to buy a new car," said an official of Kia.

In the first year of entering India, Kia's sales were only 140,505 units in 2020, but increased to 254,556 units last year, up 81% in two years.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com