Kia Officially Launches Brand In Mexico, Sales Beginning In July

by Cameron Aubernon

Published: June 10th, 2015

Kia officially announced Wednesday it is launching the brand in Mexico, with sales to begin July 1 of this year.

The automaker will sell its wares at 21 dealerships in 10 major cities across Mexico next month, with three models — Forte, Sportage and Sorento — the first to be offered for sale; the Optima will join the lineup by this November.

In the near term, Kia will continue to add dealerships to its newest network, with 26 more expected by next January, 65 total by January 2017.

As for where some of those Kias may come from, construction of the automaker’s first factory in Mexico, located in Pesqueria, Nuevo León, is 50 percent complete, with operations to begin by the middle of 2016. Pilot production will occur over five months to ensure final product quality prior to the first showroom-ready models leaving the line, some of which will head for other Latin American markets, as well as the United States. Annual production is set for 300,000 units, with the Forte and a possible compact set for assembly.

Once in operation the Pesqueria plant will boost global production to 3.7 million units annually, and will employ 3,000 on the floor; an additional 7,000 will be hired by suppliers nearby.

[Photo credit: Kia]

#CapitalInvestments #DealershipNetworks #FactoryConstruction #Forte #January2016 #January2017 #July2015 #Kia #Mexico #NAFTA #Optima #Sorento #Sportage #NuevoLeon #Pesqueria

Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

More by Cameron Aubernon

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 6 comments

Tosh on Jun 10, 2015

I guess KIA is living up to their motto, because I'm surprised they're not there already... (BTW, I don't like surprises.)

Like Reply
Bd2 on Jun 10, 2015

Arguably, more important than the launch of the brand/sales is Kia's Mexico plant getting closer to completion. Will help with not only the supply of Fortes, but presumably the Sportage and possibly a variant of the Soul.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Probert They already have hybrids, but these won't ever be them as they are built on the modular E-GMP skateboard.
Justin You guys still looking for that sportbak? I just saw one on the Facebook marketplace in Arizona
28-Cars-Later I cannot remember what happens now, but there are whiteblocks in this period which develop a "tick" like sound which indicates they are toast (maybe head gasket?). Ten or so years ago I looked at an '03 or '04 S60 (I forget why) and I brought my Volvo indy along to tell me if it was worth my time - it ticked and that's when I learned this. This XC90 is probably worth about $300 as it sits, not kidding, and it will cost you conservatively $2500 for an engine swap (all the ones I see on car-part.com have north of 130K miles starting at $1,100 and that's not including freight to a shop, shop labor, other internals to do such as timing belt while engine out etc).
28-Cars-Later Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”The losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” [if they ever are recouped] Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fords-120000-loss-vehicle-shows-california-ev-goals-are-impossible Given these facts, how did Tesla ever produce anything in volume let alone profit?
AZFelix Let's forego all of this dilly-dallying with autonomous cars and cut right to the chase and the only real solution.