AC Automotive, Ayala Corporation’s automotive business company operating under AC Industrials (ACI), has announced that it will officially re-launch the Kia brand in the Philippines on January 30, 2019. This was formalized during a round table where Kia Philippines President Mr. Manny Aligada laid down the plans for the Korean automotive brand, the distributor of which was taken over by AC Automotive formally last December 5.
With a steadily declining market share during the past 4 years, Mr. Aligada said that Kia is facing an uphill battle to regain market relevance in the Philippines. However, he said that under AC Automotive’s stewardship, he believes that it’s easy to jumpstart Kia’s local operations once more while future-proofing the brand through innovation and disruptive technologies.
“For 2018 to 2019, AC Automotive is focused on stabilizing the Kia business. We will build the brand, emphasizing on our partnership with Ayala. Furthermore, with over 60 percent of the market relying on financing, we will also introduce competitive financing packages to drive up sales,” says Mr. Aligada. “We will also strengthen our partnership with our current dealer network which is 37 strong.”
Currently, AC Automotive plans to keep the current Kia line-up of 9 vehicles because it satisfies the needs and wants of a broad spectrum of the local market. With the Rio Sedan, Rio Hatchback, Picanto, Sorento, Soul, Sportage, Forte, Carnival, and K2500, they are able to play in 60 percent of the total auto segments in the country. However, they also plan to introduce 3 new “never before seen vehicles” in 2019 to further boost their market relevance.
With that, AC Automotive plans to quadruple Kia’s volume in the Philippines to 10,000 units in 2019 (2018 sales are projected to fall in the vicinity of 2,400).
In terms of warranty, Mr. Aligada says that AC Automotive will continue to honor Kia’s existing 5-year / 160,000-kilometer warranty. They will also plan to keep this—the country’s longest standard warranty—for the foreseeable future as a way to build customer trust and confidence in the brand.
Having said that, AC Automotive will also tackle on improving Kia’s aftersales service—bringing it to levels consistent with global standards. Through their Kia Promise to Care Programs, they plan to ramp up aftersales service quality, competence, and parts availability to provide every customer an exceptional service experience.
“Ayala has always been a customer-centric company,” reiterates Mr. Aligada. “With that in mind, we won’t just be bringing in great value products, but we will also be investing in people and enhancing Kia’s systems and processes. Our dealers will be aligned with Kia’s global brand standards within the next two years.”
Together with Mr. Aligada, Mr. Arthur Tan will sit as Kia Philippines’s Chairman and CEO. With AC Automotive’s acquisition of Kia, they now manage 6 brands locally: Honda, Isuzu, Volkswagen, KTM, and the upcoming Maxus.
'Plan to introduce 3 new “never before seen vehicles”'.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is:
1. Stinger
2. All new Soul
3. Niro plugin hybrid?
I'm sure for Kia pegas will one of the 3 new cars to be introduce here...
DeleteSelling under specced bare bones vehicles with premium price, even more expensive than toyota, no wonder sales are declining. I remember Kia and Hyundai before 5-8 years ago, they always have all the features that came with other countries. I mean this is what the korean brands are known for, selling feature packed cars with a competitive price.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that the new Kia management has learned from past mistakes. Excited for next year's relaunch!
ReplyDeleteI hope Hyundai will get taken over too.. Their vehicles have alot of promises kaya lang laging stripped down pagdating dito sa Pinas and they have the gall to priced their vehicles almost at par with leading Japanese Automaker who doesnt skimp of their vehicles. 7 Airbags na ang Toyota including Vios base model, tapos yung Accent nila isa lang airbag? Parang niloloko naman tayo ni HARI.. Yung KIA naman dipa nga nakakakuha ng maayos na Market share eh pumaparehas na sa presyo ng leading Brands, so sino naman bibili ng sasakyan nila.
ReplyDeleteKia should try to lower the value of it's cars.toyota nowadays gains more sales due to it's car value,it's quality and reliabity.many features stripped off and it's value getting higher for kia.hoping for the best for Kia..
ReplyDelete