Is Peugeot the Reason Behind Delay in New Kia Sportage Launch?

Lucky Motor Company (LMC) is facing difficulties in coping up with its two joint ventures, the situation is now creating problems for the company to maintain a balance between the two.

According to information shared by Auto Journal, South Korean automaker Kia is not happy with LMC shaking hands with Stellantis & offering similar products in the market which are being assembled in the same facility. LMC teamed up with Kia to introduce local assembled Sportage and Picanto initially, followed by Sorento and Stonic.

However a year later, it also joined hands with Stellantis Group to launch the Peugeot 2008 crossover in the country. Down the line, the company also aims to introduce the larger 3008 and 5008 crossovers in Pakistan. Although the Peugeot 2008 is classified as a B-segment offering compared to the C-segment Sportage, it was considered a rival to the latter for being priced exactly in the same domain creating a cannibalizing scenario.

Kia Sportage enjoys a status of bestselling local assembled crossover. At one time it was also the third bestselling local assembled vehicle in Pakistan. But the launch of Peugeot 2008 in the same price territory created problems for LMC as it was unable to push the French crossover out of the showroom floors. Though after the recent price hikes, the Sportage has become considerably expensive than Peugeot 2008 due to which the sales of latter are finally picking up.