Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 8

8

* APRIL 2018

Kia has excelled at emphasizing layout,
simplicity of controls and simple interfaces in its interiors, according to J.D.
Power's Dave Sargent. Head designer
Peter Schreyer, below, previously with
Volkswagen and Audi, has restyled
Kia's lineup. ( P H O T O S : K I A )

Kia moves forward,
and buyers are ready
to forget the past
The company wins
quality awards,
has leading-edge
design and exciting
new models,
gaining the trust
of Canadian buyers
By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

TORONTO - KIA IS
Canada's ninth-largest auto
brand by total sales, and has
been the recipient of numerous quality awards, including taking the top spot in
J.D. Power's annual Initial
Quality Study this year.
It's evidence that the
Korea-based brand is shedding a decades-old reputation
of its vehicles merely being
better choices than buying
used.
It's an image that new Kia
Canada CEO Kyle Lee must
address. Lee, the former chief
executive coordinator at Kia
Motors America, replaced
Sean Yoon in early March.
Yoon became CEO of Kia
Motors America.
Dave Sargent, vice-president of global automotive at
J.D. Power and Associates,
said the quality of Kia vehicles has increased substantially over the past several model
years because the company
put an emphasis on simplicity.
For example, its infotainment
systems are generally regarded as the most intuitive on the
market. In large part because
of that, the brand topped J.D.
Power's Initial Quality Study
in 2017 for the second consec-

resources into its visibility.
utive year, beating out lux"One of our priorities with
ury brands such as Genesis,
our auto shows
Porsche and BMW.
here in Canada is
"It really stems
to get consumers
from how they inito sit and spend
tially design and
some time in the
develop the vehiinterior of our
cles," Sargent said.
vehicle, because
"Quite a few years
we think when
back, they realyou sit in and
ly took it on themlook at some of
selves to get a deep
the touchpoint
J.D. Power's
understanding of
Dave Sargent says
and the layout of
what consumers
user-friendly simplic- the vehicle, it's
were looking for
ity of technology has those subtle difin their vehicles:
boosted Kia's
ferences that diflayout, simplicity
ferentiate us from
of controls, simple quality ratings.
(PHOTO: J.D. POWER)
our competitors,"
interfaces."
Carter said.
It was not too
long ago that things were difSCHREYER'S INFLUENCE
ferent for the brand. In 2011,
before beginning a steady
Carter said the brand
climb up the rankings, Kia
began its turnaround in 2006
finished tied for 18th among
when Peter Schreyer, forall brands in the Initial
merly of Volkswagen and
Quality Study.
Audi, was hired as Kia's global chief design officer. Since
RENTALS AS TEST DRIVES
then, Carter said Kia has
Steve Carter, director of
established a design identity
marketing at Kia Canada,
that makes its vehicles more
said the brand faces a "familrecognizable, and has mainiarity" issue in Canada. Kia
tained an emphasis on simhas sold vehicles in the marplicity and doing the basics,
ket only since 1999, decades
particularly in infotainment
after Toyota, Honda and the
systems, better than anyone
Detroit Three established
else.
themselves.
"The product look, the
"At some point in your life,
product quality, the
you've probably driven in a
technology integratToyota or a Ford or a Honda,"
ed into it has changed
he said. "For us being so new,
considerably over
people have heard of us, but
that period of time,
they aren't familiar with us.
so much so that if
We're trying to get consumers
to become more familiar with
Steve Carter, director
our product."
of marketing at Kia
Carter said Kia Canada
Canada, says the
sees rental vehicles as a way
brand suffers from
to get more people behind the
having a short hiswheel, while the company
tory in Canada.
has also invested significant
(PHOTO: KIA)

CHARTING KIA
Kia Canada's sales have more
than doubled since 2006,
when Peter Schreyer became
Kia's global head of design
and the company began
emphasizing quality. Atypical
vehicles such as the 2018
Stinger, below, haven't hurt.

anyone had engaged with Kia
seven or 10 years ago, they
wouldn't even recognize the
product today," he said, pointing to the 2011-model-year
redesign of the Optima sedan
as a turning point.
Since 2006, Kia's annual
sales in Canada have more
than doubled to 76,504 units
(2017) from 29,569. Compared
to 2016, 2017 sales were up 6.7
per cent, although that's still
shy of the record of 77,800
units sold in 2012.
Tony Faria, co-director
of the Office of Automotive
and Vehicle Research at the
University of Windsor, said
much of the brand's growth in
Canada can be attributed to
relatively low prices.
"For the money, I think you
get a very good product. If consumers are looking for bang
for their buck, they're not a
bad option."
Carter said Kia Canada has
been working to build further
interest by attempting to associate some of its vehicles with
different lifestyles through its
"Made for People Like You"
marketing campaign. He said,
for example, that the company is attempting to market its
utility offerings to people who
lead an active lifestyle and
to those who enjoy the outdoors.

QUALITY IS KEY
Still, whether Kia can
reach its sales targets
in Canada will likely come down to
whether the
brand can
maintain
high quality
and build a
solid reputa-

* 2006

29,569

* 2007

34,820

* 2008

37,520

* 2009

46,116

* 2010

53,882

* 2011

65,123

* 2012

77,800

* 2013

72,449

* 2014

70,007

* 2015

67,914

* 2016

71,670

* 2017

76,504

Source: Automotive News Data Center

tion as a result.
Sargent said Kia has an
advantage over other automakers because its global
leaders have put an emphasis
on simplicity.
"They probably made less
compromises than anybody
else," Sargent said. "That's
not necessarily good or bad,
that's the path they decided to
take. There are some tradeoffs
there in terms of cost and
speed to market and the ability to add lots of cool features,
but they decided they had to
deal with the quality issues
first."
It's because of that leadership structure that Kia is
likely to largely maintain
high quality moving forward,
Sargent said. - ANC



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2

Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - Intro
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 1
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 2
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 3
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 4
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 5
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 6
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 7
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 8
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 9
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 10
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 11
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 12
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 13
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 14
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 15
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 16
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 17
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 18
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 19
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 20
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 21
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 22
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 23
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 24
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 25
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 26
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 27
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 28
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 29
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 30
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 31
Automotive News Canada - April 2018 - v2 - 32
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