S. Korea's Kia 1st among UK car dealers for brand satisfaction

Kia Corp. has seen record-high auto sales in the UK thanks to having the highest brand satisfaction among British dealers.

Industry sources on Monday said the British trade magazine Car Dealer last month ranked Kia first in its 2022 Car Dealer Power survey for the third straight year.

Launched in 2008, the popular digital magazine offers a range of data for car dealers and customers including information on new and used car transactions, latest news and dealer ratings.

Polling dealers across the UK, the survey gauges their satisfaction by the degree of active and efficient support each brand gives dealers in sales activity.

Running individually owned dealerships in other countries in the automotive sector is difficult. As the revenue of a foreign company depends on a dealer's sales capacity, dealer satisfaction is a direct factor behind performance.

This year's survey saw Kia top the satisfaction ratings in seven of 13 categories: brand awareness, brand's financial status, warranty, vision for the future, website construction, sales bonuses and return on investment. The company had a combined score of 90.8 for first place overall.

Of the 24 companies with valid scores in brand awareness, only four posted over 90 points: Kia (94), Hyundai (93), Suzuki (92) and Renault (90). This was further evidence of Kia's heightened standing on the British automotive market.

In a dealer satisfaction survey announced in September for the second half of 2022 by the UK's National Franchised Dealers Association, Kia ranked first among overall brands and second among premium. The Korean carmaker since 2017 has ranked at least third in the biannual poll 13 consecutive times.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com