Are you waiting for a new Kia vehicle? Note that delays can be very problematic. One reason for this is that the company is intentionally delaying delivery of several models to Canada.
According to CBC reports, hundreds of overseas Kia vehicles destined for customers across the country continue to be parked in a large storage lot in Wolverton, Ontario, a ploy allegedly aimed at skewing year-end results.
The Go Public team received a November 17 video showing a Kia Canada regional director delivering instructions from senior national management to more than a hundred dealer representatives in Ontario. He explains the reasoning to them: Deliver only some of the vehicles ordered and leave the others in parking lots until next year, supposedly so that those responsible in Korea do not have the full measure of their success.
“Given the global slowdown, Kia Canada wants to control retail and wholesale sales in 2023 so as not to give the impression of being too efficient,” explains the regional director in question Vince Capicotto, who indicates that otherwise the Korean headquarters would take the risk , not to provide Kia Canada with the necessary resources in the 2024 budget, especially in the marketing area, to have a good year.
Capicotto said Kia Canada has set a goal of selling 84,000 vehicles in 2023. As of November 29, sales stood at 79,199 units, an increase of 26.1% compared to the same period last year. That's even more than the annual record from 2021.
Photo: Kia
The company declined to comment, citing “confidential internal matters,” CBC reports.
It's actually quite an unusual strategy. Typically, companies do the opposite, that is, they double their efforts at the end of the year to increase sales. On the video conference call page cited above, several dealer representatives did not hesitate to denounce Kia Canada's practice.
Of course, it's also frustrating for customers who are waiting for their vehicle and find themselves having to cancel their reservation due to extended delivery times. Another problem is that the delivery process seems very random.
One Quebecer The Car Guide spoke to traveled to Ontario to buy an EV6 electric crossover because he could get the vehicle immediately. Another has just received his Niro EV after fighting for 11 months to take possession of it with Kia Canada and its dealer, the latter multiplying the reasons to justify delivery times.