Kia - February Sales

[Bamm1]

http://www.kiamedia.com/us/en/media/pressreleases/12374/kia-motors-america-announces-february-sales7

The sales numbers are not looking so great given that they added a brand new model this year (the Niro) AND fired the CEO of the US division for not meeting sales targets in Dec. of last year.

Maybe Kia is banking on the Stinger having a Halo car effect?

I still have some concern that when it comes time to shop for the Stinger GT, in an effort get back some margins lost on lower sales, I am going to get some dealer nonsense about "rare" and "hard to find". So as a result you have to pay full MSRP (or even worse, we had to add this markup as a market adjustment).

Let's hope the new US CEO wants to move product and is looking at shear numbers which would help with curbing that kind of behavior.

 

[Kia Stinger]

Could it be that the Niro just isn't well-known enough yet? It's only been around for about a month - right?

I'm sure the Stinger will have a better halo affect than the K900 does or did. You rarely ever see a K900 - but you'll see plenty of Stingers. I think they'll take the approach of getting lots of these on the road as quickly as possible. The dealers might not feel this way but I think it would be in their best interests to get this car out and about so that other people start asking questions.

On one hand, you probably don't want your halo car being owned by everybody. On the other - people need to see it to want it...

http://www.kiamedia.com/us/en/media/pressreleases/12374/kia-motors-america-announces-february-sales7

The sales numbers are not looking so great given that they added a brand new model this year (the Niro) AND fired the CEO of the US division for not meeting sales targets in Dec. of last year.

Maybe Kia is banking on the Stinger having a Halo car effect?

I still have some concern that when it comes time to shop for the Stinger GT, in an effort get back some margins lost on lower sales, I am going to get some dealer nonsense about "rare" and "hard to find". So as a result you have to pay full MSRP (or even worse, we had to add this markup as a market adjustment).

Let's hope the new US CEO wants to move product and is looking at shear numbers which would help with curbing that kind of behavior.

 

[Bamm1]

Could it be that the Niro just isn't well-known enough yet? It's only been around for about a month - right?

That is correct. I was more referring more to the fact that if you take away the Niro sales you are even further below last year's numbers (which missed last year's sales targets).

I'm sure the Stinger will have a better halo affect than the K900 does or did. You rarely ever see a K900 - but you'll see plenty of Stingers. I think they'll take the approach of getting lots of these on the road as quickly as possible. The dealers might not feel this way but I think it would be in their best interests to get this car out and about so that other people start asking questions.

On one hand, you probably don't want your halo car being owned by everybody. On the other - people need to see it to want it...

Less than 30% of Kia dealers even sell the K900. So you can't even go to the dealer lots to see one, hahaha. That was a Halo car failure from the get go.

I don't think corporate Kia wants the Stinger to be a "rare" car. But if there is a supply/demand constraint I can see dealers trying to take advantage of it until Kia can meet demand.

 

[Jenny Wang]

Poor Kia. Still not getting the respect they deserve? The car market is very competitive these days.