“New Kia cars are not being released to Ontario dealerships — and reportedly many more across the country — to sell. Instead, they’re being stored on this compound, 30 kilometres south of Kitchener, Ont. and allegedly on other similar compounds across Canada.”
“The reason for this, he explained in the call, is to avoid appearing too successful in the eyes of headquarters in Korea.”
This sounds made up.
It sounds like plausible deniability from what I suspect the real reason is: constraining supply to continue the perception of a shortage and maintain high prices.
How long can they do that? I mean they need a constant cash flow to pay for all their overhead. If they start making less cars that also sends a signal.
If they make enough profit per unit on the inflated pricing to pay their overhead they can
Head office would expect even greater growth next year based on the inflated 2023 number, context be damned.
That’s the next guys problem. Make the numbers, hit the bonus, bail. Capitalist, baby!
Was strongly considering a Kia or Hyundai for my next vehicle (I’m a current Hyundai owner), but if this is what it looks like, it’s more than sufficient for me to look elsewhere.
Yeah. Kia Canada is deliberately hurting customers AND dealers.
I’ve got a Hyundai and wasn’t likely to get a Hyundai (or Kia) again, but this is driving me away screaming.
Fuck this weasel, and the giant slug he rode in on.
I can personally confirm the thing about Kia dealers trying to talk you out of buying the ev version of the soul and to get the gas one instead. Weirdly strongly too. Two different locations. Honestly fuck kia and the dealerships. If I bought a new car I would have been fucked when I lost my job though so maybe only slightly fuck the dealership.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“All of you are gonna be very unhappy with me today,” said Kia’s central region manager Vince Capicotto as he outlined the plan, which he said would roll out nationally.
As Capicotto delivered the news, Kia employees on the conference call — their microphones muted — started to type comments in the chat box.
One Ontario Kia manager Go Public spoke to said the squeeze on car inventory right before the holidays is a tough financial burden for all kinds of staff at dealerships.
Franchise owners will, of course, make less money, he said, and sales staff heavily rely on commissions — which only materialize once a customer receives the vehicle and pays in full.
Then the pandemic hit and supply chain issues — such as a shortage of semiconductor chips — severely affected the availability of inventory for all car manufacturers.
Kia customers already endure some of the longest wait times in the industry, according to car expert Prymak, who called it a major problem.
The original article contains 1,241 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Kia buyers still only wait half as long as Tesla buyers.
My colleague waited 7 months for a base Rio…
He’d be waiting longer for a base cybertruck…
If that were true, would it be because Tesla was deliberately holding onto inventory? I don’t think so, so the comparison is pretty much irrelevant.
Tesla models are pretty readily available last I checked, Kia EVs are like a year minimum aren’t they? And with Tesla I’m just talking model 3 and model y, none of that cyber truck or roadster nonsense
