Kia Motors in talks with India over possible plant: official

SEOUL, April 17 (Yonhap) -- Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, has been in talks with a regional authority in India over its assembly plant, a company official said Monday.

Still, the official declined to give any further details, citing that negotiations are under way.

His comments came after India's Economic Times reported that Kia Motors had selected Penukonda in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh for its first assembly plant. The assembly plant will involve two phases with a cumulative investment of US$1.6 billion, the business newspaper said, citing an unidentified person who it claims is aware of the development.

Last year, a team of Kia Motors officials -- who are assigned to review sites for plants around the world -- met with public officials in India to assess the situation.

Kia Motors' bigger sister affiliate Hyundai Motor Co. entered the Indian subcontinent in 1998.

Hyundai has plants in the United States, Brazil, India, China, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Russia while Kia runs assembly lines in Mexico, the U.S., China and Slovakia.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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