Kia to overtake Mazda as Australia’s number two auto brand

More than 100,000 sales per annum and potentially usurping Mazda from second position in Australia’s new-vehicle market are the logical outcomes of a flood of new products heading its way, says Kia Australia.

But the rising Korean star’s blunt CEO, Damien Meredith, has stopped short of forecasting Kia Australia can go further and topple Toyota from the dominant leadership position it has held for almost two decades.

“I can answer that really, really honestly… not in my time,” he told carsales.

“I can’t see any change in that [number one position] for five to 10 years.”

Kia sold 76,120 vehicles in Australia in 2023 to secure fourth place overall. It was a 2.8 per cent and one place decline on its record 2022 result.

It slipped behind Ford, which rode the top-selling Ranger ute to third, with traditional number two Mazda clocking just over 100,000 sales.

Toyota led the way with more than 200,000 sales for the 19th year in a row.

In 2024 Meredith is forecasting only slight growth for Kia in a market he expects to slip from its 1.2 million sales record in 2023 back to the 1.1 million range.

From 2025 Kia will accelerate into new segments with the arrival of the Tasman ute, which alone is being forecast to claim up to 25,000 annual sales.

Meanwhile the electric PBV commercial vehicle range should start launching here from 2026.

Kia will also start venturing into more affordable battery-electric vehicle segments this year with the arrival of the EV5 medium SUV, which is expected to boost Kia EV sales from about 3.5 to around eight per cent of its total volume.

The smaller and cheaper EV4 and EV3 are expected to roll out here in subsequent years, with even cheaper EVs forecast for the future.

“I think if we do it correctly we will be number two in the market,” said Meredith.

“If you do over 100,000 you are not guaranteed position number two,” he cautioned. “It obviously depends on what Mazda can or can’t do.”

Meredith highlighted Mazda because its sales performance will be one of the keenly watched sub-plots of the next few years, as it divests itself of more affordable and popular vehicles such as the CX-8 and CX-9, and replaces them with more expensive vehicles such as the CX-60 and CX-90.

Its sales bulwark, the CX-5 medium SUV, is also now at the geriatric stage and due for replacement.

Kia benefitted in its climb from outside the top 10 to the top tier with the help of other brands hitting dramas. A slip by Mazda would help the next ascent into number two.

“We had a bit of luck along the way – Holden disappeared, Honda changed their distribution model… they did 68,000 cars one year and now they can’t do 20,000,” said Meredith.

“We are a great believer in us doing 50 per cent of things right and competitors doing 50 per cent wrong.”

On the flipside to a potentially declining Mazda are the Chinese brands, which Meredith acknowledged as an increasing sales threat.

“There will be some changes in the mix of the top 10 definitely,” he predicted. “The Chinese manufacturers will continue to grow.”

Among the priorities nominated by Meredith for Kia Australia in 2024 was an improvement supply from Kia’s factories to reduce its backlogs on popular models such as Sportage.

“Like all manufacturers we have lost about 20 per cent of our back-orders. That’s 99.9 per cent [caused by] wait times,” he revealed.

“That’s where we have to get better. It’s really difficult because there are variables working against us for a host of reasons.

“But that’s no excuse. We have to get better at getting cars into the market.”

While backlogs began to be cleared in 2023, Meredith said it was still an issue for the industry and would be one reason the overall market stayed well above one million sales in 2024.

“I am confident that the market will be relatively secure,” he said.

Longer term, Meredith highlighted managing the relationship with Kia dealers through the next period of growth would be critical.

“We are committed to a franchisor/franchisee set-up with our dealer network and they are going to have to look for more space in regards to what we are doing as a brand.

“We don’t want to over-dealerise. We will probably with the ute put on another 10 dealers in provincial and rural areas of Australia.

“We are not looking to add a dozen in metropolitan areas in the next three to five years. Sales per dealerships is a really important measure for us.”

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au