Kia rebrands dealers

KIA’S inexorable march up from the bargain basement continues with a rebranding of its dealerships across the world.

Dubbed ‘Red Cube’, it has already become a reality in China, while the rest of the globe is preparing to undergo the red and white architectural makeover.

According to Byung-Tae Yea, president of Middle East and Africa operations for Kia (and until last month in charge of the Asia/Pacific region as well), the Red Cube roll-out is part of a rebranding of the company away from bargain basement cars, which could take up to a decade to achieve.

“It shows faith in the Kia brand, faith in the level of manufacturing and faith in the level of investment that our company is undertaking,” said Mr Yea.

“But it will take five years to see customer perception changes, and then maybe another five years before (that those new to Kia) customers open up their wallets.”

Furthermore, many of Kia’s dealers globally have only recently built or renovated premises in the old livery.

“It will roll out slowly around the world, so it may take a few years to complete, since many of our dealers have already had refits recently.”

Mr Yea revealed that car designers were involved in the Red Cube look, which was a large project involving both in-house and outside influences to achieve the desired result.

It also took four years to complete from the time that a rebranding was first mooted at Kia.

The Red Cube is similar in design and execution to the Blue Box dealership architecture carried out by Peugeot around the world in the middle of last decade.