In a latest update, Kia Lucky Motors has suspended the bookings of all variants of Kia Picanto, Kia Sportage and locally assembled Kia Stonic.
As per the notification, the company is suspending bookings of these variants till further notice. “However, production, dispatches and invoicing will continue as planned,” the company said.
Meanwhile, the bookings for Kia Stonic (CBU/imported), Kia Sorento and Kia Grand Carnival are open. The surprising thing in this notification is that the company is still selling the CBU units of Kia Stonic. The company, however, has not shared the reason(s) behind this suspension.
Since COVID-19 has hit the delivery and production of the cars have face serious issue across the world. The global auto industry faced the issue of shortage of microchips, which caused the halt in car production from Japan to the US. Then the cost of shipment and raw material reached record-high and these issues are still haunting the industry. It is possible that Kia is facing one of these issues but we are not that sure. We hope that Kia and other companies will come out of these problems soon and normal deliveries will start.
Along with that, the company also increased the price of Grand Carnival by Rs. 500,000. And now it will cost Rs. 10,499,000 in place of previous rate of Rs. 9,999,000. Sharing the reason of the increase, Kia said that due to Pakistani rupee devaluation to USD and extreme increase in seat freight, the company is constrained to revise the price of Carnival.
Last month, Kia became the first company to increase the car prices of its locally assembled units. And now the delivery suspension issue. Hopefully, the company will resolve these issues soon because it is not only good for Kia but also for the consumers.
What do you think about the suspension? Were you planning to book a Kia car? Tell us in the comments section.
Usd-pkr conversion rates could be to blame. We could see another peice revision if exchange rate keeps increasing. Lets hope there isn’t another price increase.