Lest I be misunderstood, I am writing this article for the love of the Kia brand.

When it was announced that Ayala Industrials will take over the Kia distributorship in the Philippines in the last quarter of 2018, I was elated. I could not think of any other company that can handle Kia other than Ayala Industrials, considering its resources as part of the biggest conglomerates in the Philippines. I assumed then that the growth of Kia as an automotive brand will be sustained with this change of management and ownership.

The Kia brand is very close to my heart mainly because I had the challenging task of building the Korean brand when I joined Columbian Autocar Corp. (CAC) in 2009.

Way back then, Kia Motors Corp. was in the midst of totally overhauling its product line up and brand image in order to be able to compete in the global automotive market. One of its major moves was the acquisition of Peter Schreyer from Audi and Volkswagen as Kia’s chief design officer. Over the years, Peter Schreyer was able to overhaul the image of Kia as a regional automotive brand to one that is now globally competitive. The famous “Tiger-nose Grille” was his signature design element that will be part of each and every Kia model. It served notice that Kia has arrived and ready to compete in the global stage.

Kia’s evolution as a global brand rubbed off to its country distributors, including the Philippines. Slowly but surely, we were able to change the image of Kia in the Philippines — whose former image has been the Kia Pride that was introduced in the mid 90’s. The radical design shift for Kia that started in 2008 has boded well for CAC until 2016 when the company encountered internal issues that greatly affected its sales performance.

I left CAC in 2013 confident that the foundation for a sustained brand growth was in place and will be sustained in the years to come. I was both happy and sad when the baton was passed from CAC to Ayala Industrials but also happy that it is being passed on to a company that has been successful in handling diverse businesses in the country.

When Kia Philippines was re-launched at the end of January this year, I was so surprised about the forecasted sales of 10,000 units for 2019. I knew that the dealership network was not ready coming from luck luster sales performances in 2016, 2017 and 2018. A majority of Kia’s dealership network were in bad financial shape. Prior to Ayala Industrials taking over, you can already sense that there was a big problem in the Kia dealership network. You can see empty showrooms in many of its dealerships.

Dealers were having a hard time financing their inventories compounded by irregular supply of models that were in demand. That is why, it was a welcome relief that a new company like Ayala Industrials was about to take over and turn things around. Unless the entire dealership network of Kia is overhauled, the forecasted sales of 10,000 units in 2019 will just be a dream.

I have been a part of the automotive industry for the more than 30 years. I worked in the manufacturing side and the supplier side of the industry. I have been a witness to its ups and downs. I have seen brands come and go. But there is one common denominator among highly successful brands that have passed the test of time. You have brands like Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi representing Japan; Mercedes Benz and BMW representing Germany. Two things that these highly successful brands have in common — top-notch aftersales service and a respectable re-sale value. Without top notch aftersales service, you cannot attain a high re-sale value. And without these two, you will not achieve significant sales growth and volume. In short, without a strong dealership network, the chance of surviving the stiff competition in the automotive industry is practically nil. Total product experience emanates from the showroom to the workshop whether positive or negative. You can be very sure that poor sales performance can be attributed to lousy aftersales service — even assuming that you have a good product. And lousy aftersales service results in poor re-sale value of any car brand.

I have said a while ago that Kia’s dealership network needs to be overhauled in order for it to hit its annual target of 10,000 units in 2019. As of the third quarter of this year, Kia Philippines has sold only 3,719 units. On a monthly basis, this translates to sales of around 400 units per month. Assuming this sales average holds, Kia Philippines will end the year with sales of only 4,800 units — an annual performance of 48 percent of total target. Based on the above analysis, I have to conclude that indeed the Kia dealership network is not equipped and prepared to sell 10,000 units as of the moment.

It is no wonder then that I have been receiving lousy aftersales service from Kia lately. After I left CAC in 2013, I invested in three Kia models: the 2014 Kia Optima, the 2015 Kia Carnival and the 2015 Kia Forte. I put my money where my mouth was. I knew from my heart of hearts that I am getting great value for money on these three models and that the aftersales service that I was familiar with will still be there for the long term. I was proven wrong! Five months ago, the ABS braking system of my 2015 Kia Carnival broke down. No worries, all Kia models are covered by a five-year warranty. Off I went to Kia Alabang to apply for a warranty claim. After several weeks of waiting, I sourced the needed part myself. And guess what? I sourced the original Kia ABS braking system from Banawe! This was absurd, to say the least. How come Banawe parts dealers have the original Kia spare parts and the distributor has none?

The second incident involved my 2015 Kia Optima. While undergoing periodic maintenance service at Kia Alabang, I was informed that the front disc pads need replacement and upfront I was told that they do not have the part. I tried sourcing again from the Banawe parts dealers, but this time, without success. And would you believe that I sourced the needed brake pads for my Kia Optima from Kia Brunei? Imagine if I was just an ordinary Kia owner, I would have nowhere to go if Kia Philippines can’t supply the parts.

Last but not the least, the transmission of my 2015 Kia Carnival broke down two months ago. This time, I went to Kia Molino to have my Carnival serviced. It took them two weeks to diagnose what was wrong with the transmission. And you guessed it. No parts available. I went on vacation last 22 October and I arrived last 9 November. I visited my Carnival in Kia Molino last 11 November hoping that the warranty parts have already arrived. Sad to say, there were no warranty parts available. My Carnival sat inside the Kia Molino workshop for more than one month, waiting for the warranty parts to arrive.

Again, I have to take matters by myself and ordered the needed transmission parts from the Banawe parts dealer. I prepaid the cost of the transmission parts and was assured that it will arrive from Korea in one week.

It is very obvious that the state of the aftersales service of Kia has deteriorated significantly and has greatly affected the sales performance of the new distributor. Take a look at the current Kia dealerships in your area. The current state of these dealerships speaks for itself — almost empty showrooms with only one or two low-end models on display. You can immediately judge the current state of the brand by visiting any Kia dealer. It is a far cry from its other sister company, Hyundai. Try and compare the showrooms of these two Korean brands. You will immediately know what I am talking about. Compare the sales performance of these two brands. Hyundai sold 24,762 units for the first nine months of this year, while Kia sold only 3,719 units for the same period. Unless Ayala Industrials is fully committed to handle the Kia brand properly, it might as well sell it to another company. I hope that the management of Kia Philippines will treat this article as constructive criticism. You should not sell what you cannot service well! So, before launching another Kia model can you please see to it that your dealership network is ready to provide reliable, top-notch aftersales service? Top-notch aftersales service leads to customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction leads to repeat sales.You might have a good product but without quality aftersales service, your product is grossly incomplete.

Lest I be misunderstood, I am writing this article for the love of the Kia brand. Kia was my baby and I will do everything within my power to revive the brand. The success of Kia in tough markets, like Europe and the USA is proof that its product line up is competitive alongside its Japanese and German counterparts. Its five-year bumper-to-bumper warranty and in some markets, a seven-year bumper-to-bumper warranty assures each and every Kia owner a reliable, worry-free top-notch aftersales service. The elements for the successful marketing of Kia in the Philippines are already here. It is now up to the men and women of Kia Philippines to bring all of these elements together in order to execute a credible marketing plan that will bring the Kia brand to a place where it truly deserves.