Kia Motors America Hopes New COO Repeats That European Magic

by Steph Willems

May 29th, 2018 3:43 PM

kia motors america hopes new coo repeats that european magic

Kia Motors, the brand that entered the U.S. with the Sephia and improved drastically from there, has a new chief operating officer — one it hopes can guide the automaker’s domestic division to greater sales heights.

It’s a reasonable expectation, as Michael Cole helped grow Kia Motors Europe’s sales 40 percent during his time as COO. Cole took on that role back in 2012. With a new executive to guide its sales, marketing, and product planning, Kia hopes last year’s U.S. sales slide is a one-time blip.

Prior to his time at Kia Motors Europe, Cole managed the brand’s British division.

“Kia’s sales, market share and brand awareness increased dramatically across Europe under Michael Cole’s leadership and his wealth of knowledge and experience will serve our U.S. operations well as we continue to sharpen the focus on retail sales,” said Kia Motors America president and CEO Sean Yoon, who assumed the top spot on March 1st.

“We have an aggressive slate of new and redesigned product launches scheduled for the next 18 months, and I look forward to working with Michael to increase demand for Kia’s award-winning vehicles in the United States.”

Following the recession, the Kia brand enjoyed eight straight years of sales growth in the United States. As the industry peaked last year, so too did Kia. 2017’s sales tally was 8.9 percent lower than 2016’s. The brand’s U.S. volume fell 5.2 percent in April, with year-to-date sales slightly in the red.

It’s not from lack of trying. In the past year, new and redesigned products have become the norm at Kia. The midsize, rear-drive Stinger brought newfound attention to a brand long seen as lacking excitement, while the Niro lineup of green pseudo-crossovers aims to put families in hybrids at a lower price point than the competition. There’s also a competent new Rio. Oh, and a redesigned Forte. And a second-generation K900.

Cole, who replaced Michael Sprague as COO, claims his mission is to “deliver the sales growth and brand reputation enhancement” Kia’s products deserve.

[Image: Kia Motors]

#CorporateShakeup #Kia #KiaMotorsAmerica #MichaelCole #People

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Sportyaccordy on May 30, 2018

I think Kia went the wrong way with the Rio and Forte. The chassis and engine of my Optima are pretty good for a mainstreamer, but what really drew me to it was the style. Rio and Forte need that. It's weird because Kia has the Stinger, but Hyundai has the Elantra Sport and Veloster N. I would have thought Kia would be the sporty brand. It's a bit of a mess. Everything from the Kia brand should pivot off of the Stinger. A Stinger styled crossover should be the brand's flagship.

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- Bd2 on May 31, 2018
  
  Kia is the "sportier" brand, they just don't have a performance division like Hyundai (a typical Optima or Sportage is sportier than the typical Sonata or Tucson). Actually think the new Forte will do well for Kia (taking into account declining sedan sales); looks a lot better than the outgoing model (which was a major step back compared to its predecessor) inside and out and with the suspension upgrade and the addition of a CVT (not a plus for everyone, but supposedly doesn't have that "rubberband" feel), handles better and gets better fuel economy. What will help Kia here is increased supply of the Sportage (which looks better with the changes made to its front fascia for its facelift), a new Soul (rumored to be getting AWD) and the addition of the Telluride CUV. A big reason why Kia (and Hyundai for that matter) have been doing better in Europe over the past couple of years is that they had a better product/supply mix (Europe has gotten a greater supply of the Sportage and Niro).
  
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Akear on Jun 01, 2018

It did not take too long for Kia to beat Detroit in quality.

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