Like To Mess With The Strongest

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36

Kia has big plans for the future. Managing director Haydan Leshel does not shy away from declaring war on Toyota.

Kia wants to advance to the top group of importers in Germany in the coming years. “In Germany, our goal is to overtake Toyota where it makes sense. We like to take on the strongest,”said Kia managing director Haydan Leshel in an interview with Autogazette.

The Koreans are aiming for a top position among importers in the medium term. “We have developed well from 23rd / 24th place three years ago to around 15th to 17th place. Now we are aiming for a place among the top ten import brands,” says Leshel. The goal is to be achieved, among other things, by improving the quality of the new models and introducing the first model family with the Cee'd.

Setbacks are accepted

Leshel accepts setbacks. According to Leshel, the target of 100,000 units sold by the group for 2010 cannot necessarily be met. But «if we implement the measures that we are now preparing on time, we can do it. And with this number, I gladly accept a year or two of delay. Sustainability is important."

After the “milestones” Sorento and Cee'd, Leshel announced a third milestone that would come onto the market “in two / three years” and to which the designer Peter Schreyer, who was engaged more than a year ago, “made his contribution”. And thanks to its parent company Hyundai, Kia also wants to set accents with alternative drives in order to achieve the still magical goal of 100,000 vehicles sold. “They are taken seriously by the market when they have passed the 100,000-unit mark. And we will achieve that - in the foreseeable future, "says Leshel, who sees the change as not yet complete:" With an image change, the permanent process will certainly take longer."

55,000 vehicles next year

Autogazette: Mr. Leshel, last year Kia started to change its image from a cheap brand to a premium product. How many stages are you from the goal?

Haydan Leshel: I would relativize the term premium products, but it applies to quality. We will continue to be present in the segments in which we operate with a fair price-performance ratio. But the brand has to be charming, likeable and desirable for the customer. Our way is a form of rapid evolution.

Autogazette: You have recorded very high sales losses. Do you see this solely as a result of the discussion about CO2 emissions and the increase in VAT?

Leshel:Contrary to the market trend, we were at the previous year's level up to the middle of the year, so we did not take part in the market decline of around nine percent and even improved our market share. In the third quarter we made some changes that cost us market share. However, we think that with these measures we are on the right path for the next few years, in which we again expect growth rates of over ten percent.

Autogazette: You wanted to sell 55,000 vehicles this year …

Leshel: … we will do that next year.

Overtaking Toyota where it makes sense

Autogazette: Will all goals be postponed by a year? They announced 100,000 units sold per year through 2010. Will this figure only become relevant for 2011?

Leshel: The number 100,000 is our goal, even if it may take a year or two longer.

Autogazette: Is this number even realistic?

Leshel: If we implement the measures that we are now preparing on time, we can do it. And with this number, I gladly accept a year or two of delay. Sustainability is important.

Autogazette: Is the title “Strongest Importer” a goal for you?

Leshel:Our goal in Germany is to overtake Toyota where it makes sense. We like to take on the strongest. And we have developed well from 23rd / 24th place three years ago to around 15th to 17th place. Now we are aiming for a place among the top ten import brands.

Cee'd family brings in numbers

Autogazette: Kia came onto the German market in 1993, you describe the actual market entry in 1999, with the takeover of Kias by Hyundai. Does that mean that you want to have made it through within ten years?

Leshel:We set a first milestone in 2002 with the Sorento, which was followed four and a half years later by the Cee'd as a second milestone. This is where the first Kia model family comes into being with a three-door, four-door, station wagon and possibly a convertible. This “family” will produce numbers. The proposed 15,000 units are often viewed as conservative and we aim for 15,000 sales next year. Four years ago we achieved 17,000 sales with eleven model series. Now the challenge is to realize this with a model series. These are success steps that a company has to process internally and externally.

Autogazette: You mentioned two milestones. When will the third milestone come?

Leshel:The third milestone will come in two / three years. But I can't say anything about that yet.

Autogazette: why not?

Leshel: That's another surprise.

Autogazette: How important is sponsorship at soccer world championships in view of the image change for Kia?

Leshel: It's about increasing awareness. At the soccer World Cup in Germany last year, Hyundai saw that brand awareness increased enormously. We want to achieve similar effects.

No place for cheap cars

Autogazette: Is there room for a cheap car like the Dacia Logan given the targeted image change?

Leshel: We have defined a quality level as a basic requirement that we do not compromise on. At the expense of a price positioning at the level of a Logan, we will not do without quality and safety features in the product. We want to and will continue to practice this way.

Autogazette: The first hybrid models of the Kia Rio are built. When can we expect the first series models?

Leshel: 2009 in Korea, then also in Europe.

Autogazette: Aren't you a little late with this technology, also with regard to Toyota, which you want to attack?

Leshel:We have been working on three different environmentally friendly drive concepts for years: gas vehicles, hybrid drives and fuel cells. Toyota may be a bit ahead of us when it comes to hybrids.

Autogazette: The synergy effects with Hyundai, who want to offer a car with a fuel cell as standard in the near future …

Leshel: … of course. Such as B. in the VW group, where VW, Skoda, Seat and Audi use common platforms, it is also practiced in South Korea.

Autogazette: Is it then a goal to be the first manufacturer to come onto the market with a fuel cell vehicle ready for series production?

Leshel: I would like to pass the answer to this question on to our head of the development center.

Autogazette:Hyundai has announced that it will

enter the market soon … Leshel: … I don't want to anticipate my Korean colleagues.

Third milestone with Schreyer

Autogazette: Peter Schreyer has now been with Kia for a year. When will the first model from his pen be seen on the streets?

Leshel: At the IAA we saw the Kee, a first study from his hand. When he was hired, I asked him whether he could change the rear or the front of some models. He did the only right thing and said to me: what is is the way it is. So his first car will be a 100% Schreyer car. The development time takes between three and four years. We can count on the first real “Schreyer” vehicle in two to two and a half years.

Autogazette: is that the third milestone?

Leshel: Might contribute to this.

Autogazette: Would the third milestone mean that the image change is complete?

Leshel: You will be taken seriously by the market if you have passed the 100,000 unit sold threshold. And we will achieve that - in the foreseeable future. If the image changes, the permanent process will certainly take longer.

The interview with Haydan Leshel was conducted by Thomas Flehmer