The word “acquisition” is certainly not a new topic to any startup companies across the globe. We’ve seen countless of brick and mortar business that potentially acquired by a bigger conglomerate companies.
In the local auto industry, last year we’ve seen a surprising buyouts. AC Automotive, Ayala Corporation’s automobile business company operating under AC Industrials (ACI), officially announced its full takeover of the Kia brand in the country.
For some who doesn’t know which ownership is Kia, the brand is fully owned by Palawan Governor and businessman Jose Alvarez, who is the current chairman of Columbian Autocar Corporation, which sells Kia cars in the country.
Though in hindsight, the decision of Chairman Alvarez on selling Kia brand to Ayala Group at 65-percent stake is not a surprised, after Chairman Alvarez also sell his German luxury brand BMW to Business Tycoon Ramon Ang in 2017.
Under new management, Kia Philippines is now led by Arthur Tan as Chairman and CEO and Manny Aligada as President.
The new company vows to focus on long-term outlook by providing an innovative and disruptive technologies. Part of its long-term view is to stabilize the business by improving facilities aligned with global standards and expand dealer network nationwide.
Essentially, the brand will be positioned as the “approachable everyday companion,” a brand identity that mainstream car buyers in the PH market.
Why the brand sustained a huge deficit loss despite of brand popularity? Well, according to Kia, from 2003 to 2018, the brand only hit its peak of sales after selling 10,010-units (3.1% market share) in 2010. The rest are all total downfall averaging from 2,250 to 8,176 units.
We personally felt bad on how the brand struggles from its sales, dealership confidence, and after-sales service and commitment to costumers.
Moving forward in 2019, this coming January 30 will be the official relaunch of Kia brand in the country. The new management of Kia also reveals that the re-launching of their brand will be followed by unveiling of their 3 latest models for 2019. We can’t wait for it to happen!
In total, Kia has 37 dealership and outlets nationwide, 10 in Metro Manila and 27 in Provincial Area.