Kia, which started 2013 by forecasting a year of consolidation in the UK, is now predicting another sales record of around 72,000 units. It also expects to move a record 8,000 cars under its approved used scheme.
New car sales year to date were up almost 10% on 2012 and, at the end of September were 58,000 compared with less than 53,000.
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Yet with the Korean and European factories working at capacity, the company had been expecting supply problems would limit progress in 2013.
“Every month we struggle to figure out how we are going to get extra allocation but at the start of the year we decided we were going to push the supply chain to the limit,” said UK commercial director Yaser Shabsogh. “We have had a lot of help from the Koreans, whose culture is very much one of ‘can do’.”
The sales boost in the UK is not a result of falling demand in European markets which have been hit harder by the economic recession, he said.
“There’s been a little bit of a switch within Europe but the Greeks and the French and the other markets are fighting for supply just as hard as we are. Europe in general is slightly ahead of the business plan.”
The Zilina plant in Slovakia, which supplies the top-selling Sportage and the cee’d range, could be switched to a four-shift system which would increase its capacity by around 10% to 330,000 cars a year. But that would not solve the shortage of some models especially the Korean built Picanto.
Meanwhile the approved used programme, which Shabsogh claims is “the best on the market”, is benefiting from the increase in new car sales.
Shabsogh said Kia is limiting sales to daily rental fleets to no more than 10% of its total volume and is taking most of those cars back through its dealer network to protect resale values.
“I’m very happy with our residuals,” he said.
“The Sportage is retaining more than 80% after one year and the others aren’t far behind. We are leading the segment or in the top quarter with every model.”
Kia tops up the warranty on any used car less than 18 months old or with fewer than 18,000 miles on the clock to the same seven years or 100,000 miles provided with new cars and offers a year’s roadside recovery and a 60 day return policy.
