Helped by an increasingly desirable range, Kia has enjoyed what can only be described as a sales march in recent years, and it’s showing no sign of stopping. The brand finished 2014 with 353,719 units sold across Europe, a healthy 4.2% increase over 2013’s figures, and taking a 2.7% share of the region’s total market.

Michael Cole, Kia Motors Europe’s chief operating officer, points out that, while that’s a relatively small increase against 2013, it’s on the back of significant growth since 2009 and against the backdrop of weak economies and declining markets across the region. At the end of 2014, ACEA data shows Kia had grown its sales by 101,316 units compared to 2009 – that’s a 40.1% increase in five years, in a market which declined 10.2% in the same time.

That’s also been driven by strong popularity Western Europe. Kia now enjoys a 2.6% share of that region’s sales, up from 1.6% in 2009, with a 47.3% increase to 296,768 units in 2014. With the three biggest‐selling models – Sportage, Cee’d and Venga respectively – all built in the region, the brand is perfectly positioned to tailor its range to local tastes.

“A big mix of our European volume is European built,” says Cole. “In fact, our

European built products have grown by 77% in the last five years versus 22% in KMC‐built product. So this big growth of sales in Europe has been driven by products out of our European plant.”

Compared to an almost 50% market average, Kia has a relatively retailweighted sales mix of around 60%. But the advantage, with desirable products on board and rising residual values, is that the last five years have brought a step change in the customers the brand is appealing to. The Sportage, particularly, is a strong performer in the userchooser segment and much closer to segment norms.

“We’re also really pleased with the quality of that sales growth; we’ve focused on growing through the right type of business. We’re not finding ourselves in a position where we having to go to the market to buy market share.

Our business is natural, it’s controlled, and we’re managing it in such a way that we can achieve this growth without doing business we don’t want to do,” says Cole.

“We are growing our fleet business but growing through the right, good quality fleet business. We’re strengthening relationships with the major leasing companies in Europe, and we’re appealing more to user‐choosers. It doesn’t mean we don’t look at business opportunities with international fleets, we do some business in the daily rental market at an appropriate level as well, but we’re trying to keep the quality in the right way.”

That has led to structural changes at Kia Motors Europe, which are ongoing.

Mark Howlett, formerly the national contract hire relationship manager for the UK, was redeployed to Frankfurt in 2013 and now runs regular meetings with leasing companies to build relationships, position the brand and share opportunities.

This will increasingly be backed up by improvements to infrastructure and, as with Howlett’s appointment, KME is looking to utilise what it has learned through its UK presence – which records the largest fleet volumes in the region – to benefit other European markets. Germany, in particular, is seen as a big opportunity for growth.

“We’re talking about having a fleet selling power plan, which will establish appropriate business centre type structures in each of the markets. We also want to create fleet servicing programmes – experience tells us having predetermined pricing for the leasing companies and major fleet companies is always a good opportunity,” he says.

“In the UK every dealer can sell fleet but in terms of an infrastructure, and having a business centre manager or fleet manager, having a fleet policy, we’re using that as the benchmark. The UK is our leading market for fleet, and it’s a big market, but Germany is an even bigger fleet market. So we have to look at how to create the same sort of infrastructure in the German network too.

“Everywhere has got fleet, it may not be as well structured as it is in a mature market like the UK but clearly we see this as an opportunity for us to create the right infrastructure to be able to talk professionally to fleets so that we can realise that opportunity in the market,” continues Cole.

But products will continue to be vital for changing brand perceptions. Kia is starting 2015 having performed midlife upgrades to the Sportage, Optima, Venga and Rio during the previous 12 months, as well as launching a new Soul into a small but growing B‐SUV sector.

There’s a new Picanto on the way and, building on a previous generation which had recorded high demand in its top trim levels, the new Sorento is expected to perform well this year too.

“[The Sorento] takes us to the next step in terms of sophistication,” Cole says. “If we want to cater for a segment which is becoming more premium we have to offer not only a great looking car but one with improved refinement and a better interior. It’ll appeal to retail, and we see a good opportunity in fleet.

So from 10,000 units in 2014, we’ll be planning 14,000 to 15,000 in 2015.

That’s a 40‐50% growth in sales, from private and corporate purchase.”

So with factories running at almost 100% capacity and sales continuing to grow, Kia is beginning the latter half of the decade with a positive outlook, and Cole has high hopes for ongoing success in Europe. It’s a process which will, to some extent, be underpinned by the investment in infrastructure to support its fleet sales.

“In the next five years we don’t think it’s impossible that we could grow [our European sales] another 50%, but we have to be realistic. We will also in that period have to have a stronger position in the fleet market. I think holding a 60/40 split might be harder ‐ we have to recognise that fleet offers us a strong opportunity for future growth.”