Kia Motors may decide India site in August

South Korea’s Kia Motors Corp is expected to pick a site next month for its first factory in India, stepping up plans to start making cars in one of the world’s fast-growing auto markets, two people familiar with the matter said.

The move would enable Kia to leverage the existing supplier base of its affiliate Hyundai Motor Co, India’s second-biggest automaker by sales. The proposed factory would start production in 2019 and eventually have capa-city to make 300,000 Kia vehicles a year, one of the people told a major bet for a firm that sold 3.05 million vehicles last year.

The size of Kia’s investment has yet to be decided, sources said, declining to identify which models will be produced at the factory. Kia is best known as a maker of relatively inexpensive cars, like the Rio sub-compact.

Three sites are under consideration for the plant, and Kia may announce the plan in September after deciding on a location in August, the second person said.

The states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat have all been wooing Kia, according to two other people with knowledge of the matter.

An AP government official said the state is the frontrunner.

Kia said on Thursday that it was “continually evaluating potential locations for overseas manufacturing facilities, inclu-ding India, to secure additional engines for future growth. However, as of now no concrete plans have been finalised.”

Hyundai started India production nearly two decades ago and has two factories in India that make cars for India and exports.