India today announced a significant milestone of surpassing 500,000 connected cars on Indian roads. The company stated that this reflects strong customer adoption of Kia’s intelligent mobility ecosystem, with Connected Car variants now contribute nearly 40% of the company’s domestic wholesale volumes, which is enabled by Kia Connect 2.0 with ccNC.

The Kia Seltos leads as a key contributor to this milestone, accounting around 70% of Kia’s total Connected Car sales, while Sonet and Carens closely trail Seltos and highlighting the broad-based demand for connected features across Kia India’s portfolio.

Commenting on Kia’s technology leadership in automotive industry, Atul Sood, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Kia India, said, "Kia India has consistently differentiated itself through its vehicle design excellence and technology leadership. Our continued focus on enhancing connected features and customer engagement initiatives such as Kia Drive Green has strengthened adoption and interaction across our connected ecosystem. The strong customer retention beyond the complimentary subscription period underscores the sustained relevance and long-term value of Kia Connect”.

The release stated that the current retention trend indicates that customers are returning for renewals due to their satisfaction with the experience of the connectivity features. 

Connected car features being introduced include:

• Connected navigation cockpit:

An integrated interface that combines navigation, vehicle information, and app connectivity, with over-the-air (OTA) software update capability.

• Plant-level over-the-air updates:

Vehicle software is updated remotely before delivery, so cars are shipped with the latest system versions.

• OTA software updates with remote diagnostics:

Enables software updates and basic vehicle diagnostics to be carried out remotely, reducing the need for service centre visits.

• Digital Key 2.0:

Allows vehicle access and driving using a smartphone or smartwatch via UWB or NFC technology.

• Surround View Monitor (SVM):

Provides a 360-degree view of the vehicle through the Kia Connect app, aiding visibility when parking or monitoring the vehicle remotely.

• Multilingual voice recognition:

Supports voice commands in multiple languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali, with additional languages and commands planned.

With the expansion of its electric vehicle portfolio, Kia India now offers connected features across all EV models, resulting in full connected-car availability in the EV segment.

EV-focused connected features include:

• Drive Green:

A usage-based feature that tracks driving efficiency and represents environmental impact through a visual score.

• Smart connected home chargers:

Connected home charging options rated at 7.4 kW and 11 kW, enabling remote monitoring and management of charging sessions.