Kia Motors Europe and COVID-19 – What have we learned? What will change?

As people across Europe start to consider how and when life may return to something like normality, the automotive industry is in a stronger position than many industries to bounce back from this pandemic.

It’s likely that we will start to see some dealerships reopening across Europe in May, and I hope by June we will see around three quarters of businesses operating relatively normally. Come July, I am optimistic that the industry will be back on its feet.

I predict that out of this chaos will come positive change for the industry. I am hopeful of a real increase in the pace of ‘digitalisation’ and online sales. At Kia we are committed to making big steps in this direction, and delivery and collection of cars from people’s houses is something that is high on our priority list.

I think that at dealer group level we will see a trend towards dealer consolidation and customers will place new expectations on dealers after the social distancing and lockdown of recent weeks. There is no question that larger dealer groups are well placed to offer new services.

People will still want to touch and feel their cars before buying, I don’t think that will change. But I predict that the average customer will extend the ‘pre-research’ phase of car-buying, and will do so from home. I think that we will see the majority of consumers wanting almost all of the research process to take place at home.

This will extend to agreeing finance deals online, and understanding the whole package, including terms and conditions, before they visit a dealer. The point at which they visit a dealership will ultimately become the validation of their online research, and to check the car meets their expectations.

At Kia, we are doing everything that we can with our Financial Service Providers to help our dealer partners, with two main initiatives. Number one, we are ensuring their continuity by extending our credit lines to ensure they have enough liquidity. And number two, we are helping ensure they are organised and ready to restart when the time comes, with customer pre-orders produced and ready for collection.

The main challenge after the pandemic will be to help customers feel comfortable to return to dealerships. It is important that customers see that dealerships are safe, with clear indications that surfaces and cars are regularly sanitised. In fact, we can learn from the China market, as this is something that’s being managed very well. They have proved that social distancing in dealerships and vehicle workshops is actually very straightforward – it’s easier for example than in a grocery store.

For buyers of Kia cars we will extend support throughout 2020, to provide peace of mind. As part of this we have extended our warranty for customers in lockdown. We are acutely aware that it will be a difficult year for our customers, so we plan to introduce insurance in case any customer loses their job. We also plan to provide loans or credits so that customers will only start paying for their car in January 2021.

What is key at this time is customer empathy, and safety. We hope to see you soon!