Mike Sinclair•25 Jan 2015
NEWS
Kia tilts at name change
The Kia range could be labelled very differently if Aussie chief gets his wayKia's Australian connection wants to change how the brand's models are labelled Down Under.
In a move that would align the locally sold models with nomenclature debuted in China, Kia Motors Australia Chief Operating Officer, Damien Meredith, has proposed the company adopt alpha-numeric labels for its range.
Passenger cars would be labelled with K and a numeral denoting its size. The Picanto, still a maybe for Oz, would kick off the range as K1, Rio would get the K2 badge and Cerato (pictured) would align with Australia's ‘favourite', the Mazda 3 as a K3. Meantime the Korean brand's SUVs would get KX badging as is the case with the vehicles in China.
"There is no doubt in my mind the move would be very strong for the brand," Meredith told motoring.com.au.
According to Meredith Kia's models suffer for recognition in the local marketplace.
"Research shows that Carnival [people-mover] is incredibly strong, but after that [recognition] falls of sharply."
The proposal has been put in front of Kia senior executives in Korea but at this stage no go-ahead has been given. The changes would likely have to be rolled out as new generation vehicles arrive, Meredith opined.
"I'd be the happiest man in the world [if it happened]," Meredith joked.
The local operation's boss contends lack of recognition severely impacts sales of most of the brand's cars Down Under.
In particular, he highlighted Cerato, the brand's small car category entry. Last year Cerato sold around 6700 units. This compares to over 31,500 for the mechanically similar Hyundai i30, which itself is more than 12,000 units behind the market's top-sellers, Mazda3 and Toyota's Corolla.
Meredith has labelled 2015 as a "watershed" year for Kia in Australia. He says the brand has been "on sale too long".
"We will shift the emphasis to the product and concentrate on quality communication... We need to get rid of that [cheap and cheerful] tag," he said.
A key part of Meredith's strategy is growing awareness — especially of the maker's industry-leading seven year warranty. He says Kia will introduce an assured used car program to leverage the warranty middle-year.
"We intend to grow the business in a sustained manner... [But] we have a lot of work to do," he stated.
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Written byMike Sinclair
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