Kia’s European base is encouraging dealers to spruce up their showrooms and workshops – or move to new premises – to provide a more welcoming environment for the customers it has won in recent years.
“We have traditionally been a conquest brand, but now we are working on improving customer loyalty,” said Benny Oeyen, the Hyundai group brand’s European marketing and product vice-president.
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Dealerships, which in some cases are small homely outlets, will become smarter and more modern to cope with the increasing number of customers and cars they now attract while customer service will be improved.
Kia’s flagship sales outlets are the Red Cube centres, of which there are three in the UK, but over 100 of the company’s 173 British dealers have already upgraded their premises or moved to new homes, and the transformation is due to be completed this year.
Kia’s European sales have been rising rapidly on the back of a product range which has been almost totally renewed in less than two years. The company sold 338,000 cars in Europe in 2012 – almost 15% more than the year before – while the overall market was down by over 7%. The UK contributed almost 67,000 to that total. But traditionally only about quarter of Kia customers stay with the brand when they buy another new car and the company wants to improve on that.
The next new models will be replacements for the Carens compact MPV – seben seats only for the UK to start – and the pro_cee’d three-door hatchback. Both are due to arrive in UK dealerships in the next couple of months.
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By GlobalDataThe new Carens replaces two models in Kia’s line-up. It take over from the old model of the same name and also covers for the larger Sedona [Carnival] which will not be sold in Europe when redesigned. Consequently Kia UK is expecting a 50% increase on the old model’s full-year life cycle peak of 4,500.
The new pro_cee’d, like other three-door hatchbacks, will be a low-volume model, contributing only around 10% (1,500 to 2,000 cars) of all cee’d family sales. But it will help to consolidate the full range as the UK’s fifth best-selling family hatchback line.
