Kia Sales Malaysia (KSM), the Korean brand’s new principal-led national sales company, held a splashy launch on Wednesday, during which it revealed its plan to “Be Unstill” and combat the stagnation of its local presence. Its managing director, ex-Omoda & Jaecoo Malaysia vice president and Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM) veteran Emily Lek, is under no illusions about how much of an uphill task this is, given the customer sentiment on the ground.
Aside from the steady rise of car prices and the sluggish new model introductions by past distributors, the Kia brand has also been beset by perceptions of high maintenance costs and parts prices and low resale values, which have caused buyers to retreat to familiar Japanese rivals. The recent onslaught of Chinese makes – led, ironically, by Omoda & Jaecoo – hasn’t helped.
Speaking to us immediately after the launch, Lek said that at the end of the day, resale values are rooted in supply and demand – if the latter falls, so do used car prices. She added that the influx of Chinese competitors, with their attractive prices and technologies, have disrupted resale values not just for Kia, but even “very strong marques.”
Hence, it’s no longer enough to simply enter as the principal and offer competitive products. Lek contends that Kia needs to stand out by improving its aftersales services, laying down a strong foundation on top of which customers can buy its cars without worrying about what’s next.
“Our journey is really to look at every single customer touchpoint, how we can make it better. Can I guarantee that tomorrow your [car’s] secondhand value will suddenly go up after [this launch] that we threw? No, that’s not going to happen. How it’s going to happen is, basically, by strengthening the foundation, and that starts with our leadership,” she said.
Answering our query regarding maintenance costs, Lek said that this is something the team is looking into, along with the full range of sales and aftersales services KSM will offer. She added that customers are meant to enjoy the car; it’s meant to bring them wherever they want to go, as Kia’s global tagline ‘Movement that Inspires’ suggests, not to “stay in the workshop for long periods of time.”
“What does the customer get when they purchase the car, and as what you said, the total cost of ownership, we are looking into that. Everything we’re looking into, at the end of the day, is to make the customer happy when they buy a Kia, and the simple answer to ‘Kenapa beli Kia?’ [should be] ‘It’s a good car, good service, I’m very happy; I can actually drive out of the showroom without worrying about anything,’” Lek said, referring to KSM’s new marketing strategy of “Why Kia?”
Lek did not provide any details on how KSM plans to achieve all that, but it is notable that the company has hired three people to individually head up sales, aftersales and the wider dealer network, these being Victor Chan, Rafhan Saiah and Phang Chee Wei respectively. All three have had stints in companies such as MBM and Perodua, so they do have experience working with brands with historically strong resale values.
The strong focus on aftersales support is in service of KSM’s goal of sustainable growth. As president and CEO Hyung Ho Kim put it, “Our target is to grow at a sustainable pace for the long term. For us, it’s not so much about being the fastest growing brand; rather, it’s more about being a brand that cares about our customers, our dealers and the Malaysian automotive segment.”
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