Kia are exuberant, despite difficult trading conditions in 2008, they are celebrating a growth in their market share.
Kia Motors (UK) Limited ended 2008 with a total new car sales figure of 31,323 – an increase of more than six per cent over 2007 despite the economic downturn that has plagued the UK market.
Tough economic conditions saw the UK new car market fall by 11.3 per cent to 2.13 million and some brands register second-half falls of more than 30 per cent. Kia continued to offer excellent finance offer and industry leading seven year warranties on their new vehicles, while their Rio, Pro Ceed, Ceed and Picanto models all offer variants which sit comfortably in TheGreenCarWebsite’s recognised ‘green’ range as sub 120g/km and tax band B vehicles only further adding to the appeal of their vehicles.
Kia’s retail market share increased to almost 1.8 per cent and in the market as a whole this was where the biggest falls were seen with the overall retail market down by 14.7 per cent.
Paul Philpott, Managing Director, said: “Two years ago we started the process of re-focussing the Kia business in the UK on a strong retail presence and reducing our reliance on expensive buy-back fleet business. We wanted to work in partnership with motivated and profitable dealers and the fact that we have been able to weather the desperate economic conditions that have hit the markets – particularly in the second-half of the year – is testament to that plan.
“Now we have to keep up the effort in order to hit our target of increasing sales in 2009 by another two or three per cent when we expect the market to shrink by a further 15 per cent,” he added.
RoadTestReports.co.uk rates the Kia Ceed 1.6 CDi (pictured) at four and a half stars.
