Kia serves up fleet for Open
While the world’s premier players serve, volley and smash their way towards the opening Grand Slam title of 2014, a fleet of more than 100 Kia vehicles will shuttle players, officials and guests the equivalent of almost 10 circumnavigations of the Earth to ensure everyone is where they need to be when they need to be there.
For the 13th year in a row, Kia Motors’ support of the Australian Open tennis will continue with the delivery of more than 100 specially-equipped courtesy vehicles to keep the wheels turning.
In handing over the Kia Courtesy Fleet to Tennis Australia’s CEO, Craig Tiley, KMAu chief operating officer Tony Barlow confirmed Kia’s ongoing support for tennis in Australia.
“It has been Kia’s honour for more than a decade to be a proud sponsor of the Australian Open, one of the world’s greatest sporting events, and that commitment has not wavered,” Mr Barlow said in Melbourne.
“We recognise that the Australian Open is the brightest star on the Australian tennis calendar, and take no small amount of pride in being able to assist in the successful staging of the tournament.
“The athleticism, enthusiasm and professionalism displayed by the many competitors at the Open is a fine example of the core values treasured by Kia as a product and a company.”
In accepting the courtesy fleet, Mr Tiley said: “It is pleasing to have such constant support from our longest-running sponsor. The Australian Open is undeniably the biggest sporting event in the world in January, and I’m pleased to again accept the fleet of Kia vehicles which will effectively keep the tournament moving over the next few weeks.
“It’s a huge logistical exercise to move all our players, officials, media and staff around Melbourne during the event and year after year this is achieved with Kia’s support.”
The majority of the 101-strong courtesy fleet, 70 vehicles, is the multi-award winning people-mover, Kia Grand Carnival which can move up to eight people in comfort.
Also on the fleet are Kia’s award-winning Sorento SUV (10), Sportage compact SUV (10), all-new Rondo compact people mover (10) and one Cerato.
The Kia courtesy fleet will be driven by 215 volunteer drivers who expect to clock up more than 400,000 kilometres in thousands of journeys during the 2014 Australian Open.