Kia Soluto Ventures into the Kazakh Market with Local Production

In Kazakhstan, sales of the compact sedan Kia Soluto have commenced, now produced at a new local factory. The model is equipped with a 1.4-liter gasoline engine with 95 horsepower and a 4-speed automatic transmission. The starting price is 8 million tenge, which roughly equals $17,000 USD.

Initially, the sedan debuted in China in 2017 under the name Pegas and was created based on the local variant of the Kia K2, effectively the first generation Rio. In China, the model failed and soon disappeared from the lineup, but managed to reach markets in South America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, where it was renamed Soluto. Now the same four-door vehicle has arrived in Kazakhstan. Local assembly opens up an opportunity for Soluto to secure a foothold in the region, where demand for budget models is traditionally high.