Kia aims for 'sustained, orderly growth' in Oz

Kia has enjoyed a bumper year in Australia during 2015. Sales are up, and the importer's COO, Damien Meredith, says it will continue to grow at roughly the same rate next year.

"The market's up 3.6 per cent year to date... We expect the market to go to 1.145 million for the year," he told journalists during the local launch of the new Optima.

"The SUV segments continue to grow, and if SUVs don't overtake passenger cars next year, they will probably do it in 2017. That continues to grow and grow...

"We're up 18.2 per cent for the year, and that's on the back of Cerato growing by 57 per cent, Carnival up 103 per cent, pro_cee'd up 12 per cent, Sportage up 18.4 per cent and Sorento up 23 per cent.

Meredith stated that the brand's seven-year warranty "has allowed us to go on people's shopping lists, and in many ways it's redefined our brand."

That is likely the reason for Kia's CSI (Customer Service Index) showing signs of improvement too.

"All in all, 2015 has been quite good for our brand, and we're pretty pleased with our results.

"Next year, we're aiming for 38,000 cars – that's about an increase of about 14 per cent."

Meredith doesn't expect the market in 2016 to move much beyond its projected final result for 2015. That would make Kia's plans for "sustained orderly growth" in 2016 seem optimistic. The Kia boss admits that a final figure of 38,000 for 2016 would be roughly the same rate of growth the importer has enjoyed in 2015 – 14 per cent, versus a forecast for a stagnant market in 2016.

"We'd be very happy with 14 per cent growth in 2016," he concluded, not unreasonably.

Kia's sales success in Australia is streets ahead of the brand's global sales result, and is even ahead of the growth in Kia's home market, South Korea. For the year to date, the Aussie market's 18.2 per cent growth is in marked contrast with Korea (13.8%) and North America (6.1%). Globally, Kia's sales have actually fallen back by 0.9%, despite the gains made in South Korea, North America and Australia.

The problem for Kia is not unique to the Korean brand. Europe and Russia have taken an economic downturn. But the silver lining for Australian consumers is that supply of the new Optima (pictured) won't be constrained, as it was when the previous model was released here. Back in 2011 the then new Optima was limited to just 1000 units during its first year on sale in Australia.