Been there: Kia ‘respectful’ of Chinese cars

AS KIA prepares to celebrate a year of record deliveries in Australia, it has one eye on strong competition from Chinese brands that have filled the value-oriented challenger brand role it once occupied while focusing on its future near the top of the nation’s sales charts with increasingly premium offerings.

Speaking with GoAuto at the recent Seltos facelift launch in New South Wales, Kia Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith said he was “very respectful of the competition” from Chinese brands such as GWM Haval, LDV and MG.

“We are always very respectful of competition because they bring something to the market that may not have been there before. All those years ago that helped give us an opportunity to work with getting on shopping lists.”

Asked how Kia was going to maintain an edge over Chinese brands that are rapidly progressing in terms quality, brand awareness and sales, Mr Meredith said Kia and other established brands faced a choice of whether to “stay in pursuit of the lead or look at how you can improve the brand and the product that you're selling and ask for a different price level”. 

“We've been reasonably successful in doing that (the latter) and it obviously left a gap underneath which the Chinese filled very well and they’ve done a great job,” he said.

“So if you look at the perimeter of things, I think that's what has happened.  If you look at what Toyota did and Mitsubishi, all manufacturers pushed up, and they left this huge gap from a ‘player’ point of view but also from a price point of view.” 

With Kia Australia product planning manager Roland Rivero at the table, it was timely to ask about future models, in particular, Kia’s response to the super popular Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

Mr Rivero said the current-generation Sportage was not originally intended to be a hybrid for this market but that Kia Australia was pushing for a right-hand drive hybrid version of the long-wheelbase Sportage sold here.

“We've always had our hand up for it and we know that there is one being developed with left hand drive,” said Mr Rivero.

“One factory makes the longer wheelbase while the other does the shorter wheelbase. And they've got the hybrid to the UK, in the shorter wheelbase out of Slovakia,” he explained.

“But we have no desire to source from Slovakia in that short wheelbase. We've got this nice size now that Australians love and it’s selling very well. So we're negotiating with headquarters to get right-hand drive developed.” 

Mr Rivero said Australians would have at least 12 months to wait for a hybrid Sportage and that it would more likely be a conventional hybrid than a plug-in hybrid (PHEV)

“Best case scenario, it’s going to be a year away due to manufacturing constraints and though we will have a choice of plug-in and parallel hybrid powertrains, I think the market is suggesting that the hybrid is the right thing,” he said.

“Just look at RAV4. Even when we had both (hybrid and PHEV) on Niro, the demand was stronger and faster for hybrid.”

With uptake of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in Australia quickly on the rise, GoAuto asked Mr Meredith if Kia Australia would be in a position to increase EV volume in the same way as Volvo plans to in Australia by having secured production of 20,000 BEVs per year for this market.

In reply, Mr Meredith simply said, “Probably.”

“We've got EV6 and Niro to deal with at the moment and if we do 4000 next year, that's pretty good. I don't think we'd be in a position to do more than that at the moment … It's growing quickly but we're reasonably happy with the supply that we have.”

Mr Meredith said Kia Australia could put its hands on 2500 EV6 models next year in various variants including rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive and the high-performance GT.

Kia has more BEV models in the pipeline, with the EV9 large SUV likely to be launched next and officially revealed next year, but Mr Rivero would not commit to specifying when the new model might arrive in Australia.

“Well get over EV6 and the EV6 GT then it’s in the hands of the gods,” he said.

“Regarding the EV9, that’s still a wait but we’re working on it and hopefully will have an answer soon as (customer) enquiry is building.”

Mr Rivero admitted many EV9 teaser shots have been circulating, pointing to a possible debut at the forthcoming 2023 Detroit Motor show scheduled from September 13-24.  

He said indicative pricing was also difficult to pin down at this stage.

“EV9 is difficult to pigeonhole as it’s essentially in a segment of its own,” he said.

“We are still assessing the likely competitors and they are ‘large’ SUVs roughly the same size as BMW’s IX but there’s nothing like it (EV9) in the marketplace at the moment.

“It’s impossible to speculate on pricing this far out from launch but it won’t cost and arm and a leg.

“I would suggest to ‘watch this space’ as to whether it comes to Australia or not but EV9 is a very important vehicle, another halo model; it is a global product and it’s my understanding that it will be sold in the UK so right-hand drive versions will be available.”

With Kia’s continued sales success here dependent on the right type of cars, GoAuto asked what new models are likely in the near future, especially a one-tonne ute to rival the likes of Toyota HiLux and Mitsubishi Triton.

Mr Meredith said that if he was offered a utility and possibly one with some form of electrification, the answer would be “yes to both”. 

After the EV6 GT, the next major product launch for Kia Australia is likely to be a facelifted Sorento large SUV, hinted Mr Rivero.

“We have other new models in the pipeline over the next 18 months in Australia and Sorento is a couple of years old now and usually there's a midlife update,” he said.

However, replacements for the ageing Rio light hatch and the related Stonic city SUV are not on the immediate horizon.

“The Stonic is going well for us and is probably going to have a longer way to go as it's actually been shifted to another factory,” said Mr Rivero.

“And Rio is in the same boat even though it has already had its PE (facelift). Both cars are closely related on fundamentally the same platform, and other components. From our perspective, we have an ongoing business plan,” he concluded.