Kia's good year 'down to its strong network'

Kia’s registrations hit a record high of 89,364 last year, up 13.9% year-on-year in a market that grew 2.3%.

This success was capped with recognition for and from its dealer network. It was voted franchise of the year at this year’s AM Awards and returned such good results in the NFDA Winter Dealer Attitude Survey, that Kia Motors UK president and chief executive Paul Philpott was “punching the air”, he told AM at the Geneva Motor Show.

The network recorded a 9.4 score for value of the franchise in the survey, just behind table-topping Mercedes-Benz’s 9.7, with a key profitability score of 8.5 against the German brand’s 9.1.  In fact, when the score to every question in the survey was averaged, Kia emerged ahead of Mercedes-Benz.