KIA RETAINS ‘CARMAKER OF THE YEAR’ TITLE AT MOTOR TRADER INDUSTRY AWARDS

For the second year running, Kia UK has been named ‘Carmaker of the Year’ at the Motor Trader Industry Awards 2024.

The award was announced at a ceremony on 20 November 2024 at the iconic Grosvenor House Hotel in London, attended by around 1,000 guests from across the automotive industry.

As ever, the awards were judged by Motor Trader’s respected panel of judges, with Kia named as the winner for its compelling product line-up, future vision, and customer and dealership centric business approach.

“Kia won the Carmaker of the Year award for its strong line-up of vehicles and the positive relationship it enjoys with its dealer network across the board. It is ranked highly by dealers in terms of return on investment and the current and future profitability of the franchise. Kia has consistently delivered as the top franchise in successive NFDA dealer surveys,” said the Motor Trader Industry Awards Judging Panel.

Simon Hetherington, Commercial Director, Kia UK, who picked up the award on the night, commented: “We’re thrilled to once again be recognised as Carmaker of the Year, which is testament to the strength of our dealer partnerships, business strategy and our award winning product portfolio. There has been a lot of change in the industry over the past year, especially with this being the first ZEV mandated year, which means that we have had to face more challenges that put our plans, processes and partnerships to the test. Fortunately, we can proudly say that together with our partners, we have overcome hurdles and continue to rise to challenges whilst still being on track to complete our best-ever sales year in the UK – a truly momentous occasion. I thank our network for their hard work, perseverance and collaboration that’s enabled this success and thank you to Motor Trader for the continued recognition.”​

Kia has had yet another historic year in 2024, building on the gains made in 2022 and 2023. By the end of October of this year, the brand had already topped 100,000 sales, firmly establishing a course for a new full-year record. Furthermore, the Kia Sportage is currently the second-best-selling vehicle of any make in the UK and the most popular vehicle in its class.

In addition to setting sales records, Kia introduced the EV3, its newest and most reasonably priced EV available in the UK, in 2024. More than 1,000 orders for the car were placed before it was formally introduced in showrooms after the model visited nearly all of Kia's 189 dealerships across the nation, each of which held its own "EV3 Electric Experience" events to give customers a first look and hands-on demonstration of the newest model.

Kia UK has also been recognised by its dealers as the best franchise to work with, topping the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) Dealer Attitude Survey for the fourth consecutive time, ranking as the top brand in 39 out of 56 questions posed to the nation’s car dealers.

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