Kia: Keeping a promise

KIA Philippines president Manny Aligada at the Stinger launch

When the Kia brand was relaunched last January under the Ayala aegis, newly-appointed president Manny Aligada did not reveal a sales growth target for the year.

Instead, Aligada made a commitment to steer Kia to a growth path as soon as possible.

The year-to-date January-July 2019 sales report of the Chamber of Philippine Automotive Manufacturers, Inc. (CAMPI) shows clearly that Aligada has kept his promise.

Kia’s sales growth has gone unnoticed by many because Kia Philippines is registered in CAMPI as Adventure Cycle Philippines, Inc. (ACPI), a business name normally associated with motorcycles, and AC Industrials, Ayala Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary, distributes KTM motorcycles.

According to the CAMPI report, ACPI/Kia PH posted 2,908 total vehicle sales during the January- July 2019 YTD period, thus holding on to eighth place if the sales report of the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) is not counted.

By the end of the first semester, Kia had already overtaken Foton (2,247 units sold) by scoring the sale of 2,396 units. That was a big improvement over the 1,351 units sold by Columbian Autocar Corp., then the distributor of Kia, in the same year-ago period.

Going back to the commitment that Aligada made last January, PDI Motoring asked him online whether now that he had achieved his goal of steering Kia to a growth path as soon as possible, would he set a sales growth target for the rest of 2019?

“As of June year to date, we have grown 77 percent,” he replied. “At this rate, Kia is one of the best performing brands in the industry in terms of growth rate and we intend to keep the momentum for the rest of the year.”

SOLUTO’S ROLE

The car that Aligada introduced last January at the Korean brand’s relaunch is playing a key role in Kia’s upward trajectory.

A total of 1,945 units of the Soluto were sold from January to July 2019, making it Kia’s best-seller.

It appears that Aligada’s strategy in launching the economically priced (P625,000 for the LX MT) made-in-China Kia compact sedan early this year, was precisely to boost ACPI’s sales.

Just recently, Kia made it even easier for budget-conscious consumers to own a Soluto LX MT via “Kia’s Discount Downpour Promo” advertising, the down payment required as only P3,000.

This is the lowest down payment ever made by a car company, much lower even than the P10,000 set by Honda Cars PH, Inc. for a CR-V.

The terms for this financing arrangement are P3,000 down and P12,833 monthly for 60 months. If the buyer is willing to pay more each month, it is P19,188 monthly for 36 months, and P15,180 monthly for 48 months.

NISSAN STILL THIRD, AND HYUNDAI FOURTH

Meanwhile, Kia’s entry in the Top 10 has not changed the industry’s rankings for the first seven months in the Magic 5 Circle.

Toyota is still No. 1 with 87,674 units sold, Mitsubishi ranks second with 35,977 units sold, Nissan is third with 24,711 units sold, and Hyundai is fourth with 19,790 units sold, according to the combined July YTD sales reports of CAMPI and AVID.

If AVID’s sales report and therefore Hyundai were excluded, Suzuki with 13,119 units sold would be fourth, and Ford would be fifth with 13,095 units sold.

Suzuki overtook Ford in July to grab fourth place in CAMPI rankings. In the YTD June 2019 sales report of CAMPI, Ford was still ahead with 11,227 units sold, but Suzuki was already snapping at Ford’s heels with 10,817 – a difference of 410 units.

BOOSTED OPTIMISM

These developments highlighted by the 3.16 percent YTD sales growth to 205,945 units versus 199,628 in the same year-ago period by CAMPI and the Truck Manufacturers Association group have boosted the industry ‘s optimism of sustaining the growth trend and exceeding last years sales performance.

In a press release accompanying CAMPI’s YTD July sales report, CAMPI president and concurrent Toyota Motor Corporation PH 1st vice president Rommel Gutierrez said that positive factors such as continued strong sales campaigns and stable supply of units have outweighed the unfavorable effects of the off-peak season.

AVID reported a slight dip in sales with a total of 50,164 units sold for the first seven months of the year, versus 50,505 units sold in the same year-ago period.

“Despite this, the group is confident that sales will pick up in the latter part of the year with more favorable market conditions coming into play,” AVID president and concurrent Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. CEO said in a press release accompanying AVID’s YTD July sales report.