Kia Motors Slovakia (source: Courtesy of Kia Motors Slovakia)
The Slovak arm of the Korean car maker Kia Motors Slovakia (KMS) has stopped its production lines on the Teplička nad Váhom (Žilina Region) plant on Monday, July 23 for the annual two-week summer holiday, this time for maintenance work and technological modifications in its production halls.
The carmaker just finished the production of the second generation Kia Cee’d. It will be replaced by the new combi version of the Ceed Sportswagon. Another novelty will be the electrification of the Kia Sportage’s powertrain. The new diesel mild hybrid EcoDynamics+ 48v is the first powertrain Kia is introducing on the market within its worldwide electrification strategy of powertrains.
“We believe that novelties from our plant will confirm its stable position on the European market and that they will appeal to new customers, and that our current 50 percent share of our cars on the sale of the Kia brand in Europe will even grow,” said Dušan Dvořák, spokesperson of Kia Motors Slovakia, as cited in the press release.
During the first half of 2018, Kia Motors Slovakia produced more than 170,000 cars and 236,000 engines. The Kia Sportage, Ceed and Venga models manufactured in Slovakia were exported most often to Russia (17.7 percent), Great Britain (14 percent) and Italy (7.5 percent). A stable share of about 1.5 percent was sold in Slovakia. Customers confirmed the trend of preferring petrol engines with a share of 72 percent during the first half of the year.
Simultaneously, Kia Sportage, the most sold Kia model in Europe, was the most produced model (66 percent). It was followed by Ceed (28 percent) and Venga (6 percent) at the Kia plant in Teplička nad Váhom.
In 2017, Kia Motors Slovakia invested more than €107 million into the adaptation of its production lines. This year the investments are projected at more than €200 million.
