Trade-in scheme boosts sales of Kia Motors

CEBU, Philippines - Despite the negative impact of the economic crisis to the consumer market, Korean car manufacturer Kia Motors continues to reap positive sales here in Cebu this year.

In an interview with Gateway Motors sales manager Cyrus Zoleta, he said that compared to their sales performance from last year, Kia Cebu was able to grow 30 percent from January to June this year.

“We manage to do better this year compared to last year if you compare our sales year to date,” he said.

He said that this increase in their sales could specifically be attributed to the success of their dealership’s trade-in promotion which has started to establish a mark in Cebu’s local auto industry.

The trade-in promo was started by the company in 2006 and right now it has started to peak up, said Zoleta.

He said that before, trade-in was not yet as hit as it is now because there was no dealer who offered this kind of service.

And since only Kia offer this unique promotion, their dealership has benefited from this scheme because it has translated into sales.

 “We decided to come up with this promo to provide ease and convenience to our customers who want to get rid of their old units and get a new car,” said Zoleta.

He said that the good thing about their trade-ins is that they are able to also sell their units while at the same time help their client-base to afford buying a new car through the assistance of banks that provides car loans.

Right now, Kia was able to provide their trade-in services to around 2, 000 car owners all over the province and they intend to grow this number as more clients avail of this promotion.

He said that the issue on the present economic crisis does not seem to affect their operations because the market still continues to patronize their products.

“The market has now started to realize that it is more expensive to maintain old cars than to buy a new car with warranty,” said Zoleta.

Kia’s units range from P600, 000 to three million and their most saleable units include Picanto, Rio, Sportivo, and Carens.

He said that despite the entrance of new car players who are offering affordable units to the Cebuano market, Kia still continue to grow and eat up the sales of other existing players as well as achieve their monthly targets.

Zoleta said that they also remain optimistic for their operations this year amidst the threats of the economic crunch considering the continuous growth of their sales margins.

“We seem to be unaffected by the crisis because we have been able to establish our brand in the market for quite a while now. Car buyers now identify us as a brand that is able to offer durable cars with quality retail value so they usually prefer us now over other affordable manufacturers that have come to Cebu,” said Zoleta.

He announced that this July, Kia will be introducing a new car model called Soul, a crossover vehicle and this September they will also unveil their all new Sorento unit as well as the all new Spectra at the end of the last quarter.