Kia says it has ambitious plans to take its Western European sales past the 400,000 mark in the next two years – up from the current 260,000 units.
The automaker outlined its European vision to just-auto today (14 April) in Barcelona at the launch of its new Picanto and remains confident that creative use of its Slovakian factory will address capacity issues currently proving something of a headache.
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“Last year in Western Europe [excluding Russia] we sold 260,000 [units] and this year we will sell around 290,000 in a market that is flat at best,” Kia Motors Europe VP marketing and product planning Benny Oeyen told just-auto.
“In a couple of years we want to break 400,000 – it is not pie in the sky. We started this revolution by replacing older models with new ones [such] as the Soul, Sorrento, Sportage and C’eed. It was one after another.”
Kia has struggled to meet demand for models such as the Sportage from its Slovakian factory at Zalina and, although Oeyen remains confident supply issues will be addressed, he ruled out a third shift being added.
“To add a shift is a big step, a big investment, so we work a bit on overtime now and stretch the shifts,” he said.
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By GlobalDataIt appears Kia and parent company Hyundai Motor will also rejig some production in eatern Europe to better suit their markets with the factories in Slovakia and Czech Republic swapping certain models.
Venga production will return to Zalina in late summer with further rebalancing taking place at Hyundai.
“It [factory issue] is a good problem to have,” said Oeyen. “I would rather have that problem when, in the crisis, manufacturers had a bunch of cars that nobody wanted.”
