Kia eyes growth in Saudi Arabia as women get behind the wheel

With Saudi Arabia lifting the driving ban for women, Kia hopes the widened market can translate into sales on the back of its strong reputation in the country.

A customer tries a Kia car at a showroom in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. [KIA]

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia is considered the land of opportunity for many Asian automakers, with its heavy reliance on imports and a growing number of drivers with the legalization of women behind the wheel.

Kia is aiming big in the country, the largest auto market in the Middle East region, driven by the recent healthy sales of its SUVs and the expected launch of its EV5 scheduled for November.

Kia’s annual sales are expected to surpass 50,000 units in Saudi Arabia this year, nine years since peaking in 2015 before suffering a heavy slide due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is now the third-largest auto brand in the country as of August, with 8 percent of the market share, trailing Toyota with 28 percent and Hyundai Motor with 15 percent. Its sales volume rose 33 percent to 38,758 this year through August compared to the same period a year earlier.

Customers check out Kia cars at a showroom in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. [KIA]

Booming SUV sales helped by female drivers

Kia’s recent growth in Saudi Arabia is driven largely by its strong SUV lineup along with the increasing number of female drivers after Riyadh lifted its longstanding driving ban for women.

Of all Kia sales in the country, around 15 percent are small-size Seltos SUVs, while Sonet SUVs account for 10 percent. Of them, 90 percent were sold to female drivers.

“Women in Saudi Arabia prefer SUVs due to their safety based on road conditions, and Kia offers various options to them," said Abdullah Allam, senior product manager at the National Marketing Company, Kia’s exclusive local distributor for the Saudi Arabian market that runs seven Kia dealerships across the country.

“Saudi Arabia is becoming a very increasingly big auto market and Kia is a reliable and everyday brand for people here,” said Allam.

A customer looks at a Kia at a showroom in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. [KIA]

Throughout the entire Middle Eastern region, the most popular Kia model was the Sportage SUV with a total of 21,172 units sold through the end of third quarter, followed by the Pegas sedan with 17,000 units and the Sorento SUV with 16,000 units. Accelerating Middle East push with full EV lineup

In a push for a major regional breakthrough, Kia aims to reach annual sales of 260,000 in the Middle East by 2030 by offering various electric options to spearhead the charge on the market.

That target is up 65 percent from its 2023 sales, which stood at 157,000.

“Kia is set to make an earnest entry to Saudi Arabia's EV market here with an anticipated launch of the EV5 in November,” Allam said. “As of right now, electrification in Saudi Arabia has not yet happened, but we expect EV sales will grow" in the market very shortly, he added.

Kia cars are on display at a showroom in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. [KIA]

With the expected arrival of the EV5, Kia will introduce other vehicles in its EV lineup like the EV3, EV4, EV6 and EV9 in order in 2025.

The available lineup in the country will be expanded to 11 by 2030.

Kia's first-ever pickup truck, the Tasman, made its global debut in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

"Saudi Arabia has huge potential to grow in terms of pickup trucks. That's why Kia chose Saudi Arabia as the country to unveil the Tasman," Kia CEO Song Ho-sung said during the debut event at the Jeddah International Motor Show on Tuesday.

A total of 2.4 million cars were sold in the Middle Eastern region last year, up 39 percent on year. Of them, 790,000, or 33 percent, were in Saudi Arabia.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]