Kia's new leaf should end the marque's trouble

Kia's new distributor has found itself in some hot water over delivery problems of late. However, according to Kia Ireland's new managing director Chris Haughton, the problems should soon be resolved.

Accepting that several dealers and customers have found themselves in difficult situations in recent months awaiting delivery, he explained that the problem arose over the delay in taking control of the car firm's Irish operations from its previous distributor, the Harris Group.

"This has now been sorted and we have been operating as a full legal entity since last Thursday," says Haughton. At a hurried press conference last October, Kia UK announced it was taking over the brand's distribution in Ireland. According to Haughton, legal technicalities held up the final handover until last week and meant dealers were effectively trading with the former importer until then. The problem was further compounded by moves to change the pricing structure of the models and significant changes in the dealer network.

Haughton describes the handover from Harris as "amicable", but admits it has hindered efforts to get the operation up and running. Harris had built up a stock of older models that would have proved difficult to sell, particularly as Kia is attempting to upgrade its image internationally. Therefore, says Haughton, a decision was made to export the older cars, which number 200, to Britain where they can more easily be absorbed. That leaves 464 cars that arrived since September and are now under the control of Kia's Irish operation.

Concerns have also been expressed about the delay in getting Sorrentos to market, with some customers waiting from July for delivery. Haughton says that the new operation is working hard to remedy the backlog and hopes to have most sales updated by March. However, given the Sorrentos popularity internationally, there may be further delays ahead. "The Sorrento has been an enormous success story and has taken Kia by surprise. While there are delays, it must be understood that we have only had full responsibility for the brand here since last Thursday. But in the interests of customers, if there are people out there who are not prepared to wait any longer, we are more than happy to refund them their deposit.

"It's been a hectic few weeks and we've had to sort out several legal and technical issues but we are now up and running and the coming months should see a transformation of the brand in Ireland. The issues between the previous distributor and the manufacturer left dealers in an awkward position and many got caught in the wrangle between the two. That's resolved now."

Kia is due to announce a network of 27 dealers in the next week, with plans to expand that further in the near future.

The coming months will also see the introduction of several promotional schemes for the Kia range. There will be two new Kia Rio models, along with new models in the Sedona range. There are also plans to adjust the pricing structure, with prices starting at €11,995. There will also be several new model ranges introduced, including the new Picanto range and Serato the replacement for the Shuma. Both will arrive in April.