Kia PH relaunch set in Jan., aims 10,000 unit sales in 2019

Kia Philippines, the latest addition to Ayala Corporation’s growing AC Automotive portolio, aims to sell more than 10,000 units in 2019 to turn around the company’s performance back to its peak in 2015.

Manny Aligada, president of Kia Philippines, told a media roundtable they are hoping to corner a 2 percent market share out of its 10,000 sales level target for 2019 from the current less than one percent market share.

Aligada said it will implement strategies in 2019 to stabilize the brand and business by working together with the other AC Automotive brands.

To kick off this brand image building, AC Automotive, Ayala Corporation's automobile business company operating under AC Industrials (ACI), will officially relaunch the Kia brand in the Philippines on January 30, 2019 with the introduction of three new Kia models.

This will beef up the company’s existing 9 model lineup, where 60 percent of sales are in the critical segment or the lower-end market for small cars.

It is concentrating in the value for money segment or the small cars. Its Picanto model led the models with 18 percent share of total volume.

According to Aligada, their product line-up will concentrate on the price point and the features of the vehicle to come up with a good story.

Aligada said they are also looking at participating in the commercial vehicle segment where they can make a big impact and depending on market requirement.

The relaunch will be followed by a series of brand image building and communication activities to strengthen Kia’s image in the local market as a reliable brand.

“Kia is known for its reliability and we want to duplicate that,” said Aligada.

In addition, Kia will strengthen its distributorship network of 37 outlets of which 10 are in Metro Manila and the rest in the provinces.