The carmaker is predicting 340,000 sales in Europe this year, an increase of 1% against 2012 despite the market declining 4-5% in the same period.

Chief operating officer Michael Cole told International Fleet World that he is confident that Kia can hold a 3% share of the region’s sales once the market returns to volumes of 14 million per year, equivalent to between 420,000 and 450,000 units, and said it is readying itself for this.

Optima and Sportage have both been refreshed for 2014, featuring improvements in refinement and driving dynamics to cement their positions in their relevant segments. Cole said both had proved popular with user-choosers, but the Sportage was particularly successful in Europe, with annual volumes of 80,000 putting it just behind the cee’d. In the UK, 2013 will be a record year for the car.

Based on this success, the all-new Soul will now be marketed as part of the growing B-crossover segment, competing against cars such as the Skoda Yeti and Vauxhall Mokka. The second-generation car is based on the new cee’d platform, and next year it will become the first Kia available in the UK with an electric drivetrain.

‘We’re very much becoming a brand of demand pull, not supply push,’ Cole said. ‘Whereas four or five years ago we were building cars and going to market to find buyers, we are almost in a total switch of that now. We’re building cars to meet the demand we have.’

Cole said further range refreshes were on the way. The carmaker is considering a Europe-only B-crossover model, which will be loosely based on the Niro concept shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show, while the next-generation Optima is likely to include a Sportwagon estate to meet the tastes of European fleet buyers. Economy-focused turbocharged direct-injection petrol engines, including a less-powerful version of the unit found in the pro_cee’d GT, are also on the way, meeting growing demand for these both in fleet and retail.

‘We have a vision of where we want to be with fleet, and now we’re working on the implementation strategy. We see that we’ve got 18 months or two years to get our structure in place, so that when the market gets stronger and we get increased capacity, we want to be in a position where we’re ready to realise that opportunity in the fleet market,’ he said.