Kia Picanto now more affordable, but can it claw back sales ground lost to Grand i10, Swift?
The new Kia Picanto 1.0 LS brings the entry price of the range down by R24,000.
Once a prime contender in the budget hatch space, the Kia Picanto has seen flagging sales in the past few years as prices gradually rose beyond the level of its key rivals.
Consider that in the past three months Kia sold an average of 161 Picantos per month, while the Hyundai Grand i10 averaged 1,373 and the Suzuki Swift 1,834.
Until now, the least expensive Picanto, the LX, cost R260,995, considerably more than the R224,900 starting price of both the Grand i10 and Swift.
Now Kia South Africa has put its baby hatch back into contention with the launch of the 1.0 LS, which costs R236,995 in manual form and R256,995 as an auto, according to Duoporta and Cars.co.za.
That makes the new, and quietly announced, base model a cool R24,000 less expensive than the LX.
But it gets even better, with the Kia SA website now listing further discounts on some of its Picanto models, slashing the price of the new LS to R229,995 and the LX to R245,995.
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