Kia

Dunedin Kia reveals plans for purpose-built service centre

Strong growth and continued confidence has prompted Dunedin’s most successful motor vehicle dealer to plan another phase of expansion.

Just six years after upgrading showroom and service facilities in Kaikorai Valley Road, Dunedin Kia says it has outgrown the site and needs more space to cope with rising demand that has seen the business grow to the point where it now outsells all other franchise dealers in the region to sit at number one.

Now Dunedin Kia has unveiled plans to establish a purpose built service centre just down the road on a large site that will provide an opportunity for developing a larger and more comprehensive dealership facility at the existing site at a future date.

Neil Videler, Dealer Principal for Dunedin Kia, also widely known as Carbase in the southern city, says the move has been prompted by surging interest in the Kia brand and its impressive range of vehicles.

“The interest in Kia has just grown exponentially in the last few years and we’re bursting at the seams here now,” says Mr Videler.
“With the strong Kia line up especially since the arrival of the new Seltos compact SUV at an amazing introductory price of just $25,990 we’re so confident in the future of Kia as a brand it has prompted us to make a substantial investment in our own future to build on the customer experience.”

Mr Videler says the planned new Kia vehicle service centre will occupy double the current space, with room for 12 vehicle bays and associated specialist equipment and technology. More importantly, he adds, it will allow Dunedin Kia to incorporate a dedicated Electric Vehicle (EV) bay to cater for models like the recently introduced Kia Niro EV. Kia is looking to expand its electrified options in the future following the incredible success of the Niro EV in this market, which is now sold out until well into 2020 due to high demand.

“That’s very important for us, because of the rising popularity in EVs –– and we think that’s only going to get bigger,” he says.

“A dedicated bay is essential for EVs because they require additional technology for service and safety reasons, because you are dealing with large battery packs.

“We see the new service centre as giving us the platform to plan for a significant upgrade here at Dunedin Kia in the future, with a much larger showroom building for displaying new cars, space for our used cars and more facilities for our customers.”

Mr Videler says Dunedin Kia has already recruited additional staff in anticipation of its move into the new service centre, probably in the second quarter of 2020.

The space freed up with the shift will allow for the expansion of the new and used car operations at the current site in advance of any future redevelopment.

Dunedin Kia is one of the leading dealerships in the Kia Motors network in New Zealand, recently attaining Platinum Prestige status –– an exclusive club open to only 3% of Kia Motors dealers around the globe at any one time. It is awarded to dealers who excel in customer relations, standard of facilities, management of their business and sales/service performance.

Todd McDonald, Managing Director of Kia Motors New Zealand, is full of praise for the Dunedin dealership team and says their customer--focused approach has been highly instrumental in helping the brand to grow to a record new car market share.

“Their focus on the customer is extraordinary –– among the most effective of any dealership in New Zealand,” he says. “That’s what has got them to number one in the wider Dunedin region and we are fully supportive of their expansion plans because it means that more customers will get to experience it that level of service, as well as our great products.”