It’s been an interesting journey for Kia Philippines. The Korean car brand was relaunched under the Ayala Corporation in January 2019. It enjoyed one year of resurgent sales, then everything came to halt because of the pandemic.
Kia Philippines soldiered on under the steady leadership of its president, Manny Aligada. This year Kia PH bounced back with 19% growth vs. the same period last year. The Stonic led the charge, accounting for 49% of Kia’s sales in our market. The year 2023 was also a time that Kia showcased its vision for the future, by launching the EV6 locally and bringing members of the media to see the launch of the EV9 in Seoul.
But now there’s a changing of the guard. Aligada is set to retire by the end of June 2023, and new COO Brian Buendia has been tapped to lead the brand into a new era of growth and inevitable electrification. A 25-year veteran of the Ayala Corporation, Buendia is optimistic and excited about leading Kia.
“We will refine the Kia buying and ownership experience by bringing our corporate identity and culture to the fore; strengthen our industry rankings through the introduction of new and exciting models; expand our already growing nationwide dealership network; and, establish Kia as a major player in the rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) market through our EV6 and future new energy vehicle (NEV) models,” Buendia shared in a statement.
During the turnover ceremonies at the AC Motors Centrale dealership, the young Kia PH team showed a peek of what’s to come. Four new models will be introduced from 2023-2024. One is a battery electric vehicle, one is a hybrid, and the other two are traditional ICE models.
Kia EV9 preview at Seoul Mobility Show
It’s safe to say the full electric model coming is the EV9. Kia PH didn’t fly us to the Seoul Mobility Show last March just to buy Blackpink merch. We saw how promising the EV9 is to the local linup. Not to mention that it can be sourced from South Korea, which is more affordable than getting it from North American factories.
If we were to guess, the hybrid will be the Niro or the new Sportage which has hybrid options. Both of which are promising.
We’ll leave the rest of the speculation up to you. What do you think the remaining two ICE models are?
