Team-BHP - Kia Motors coming to India

The experience was one of the reasons why I decided against the Seltos. I had a 2 min test drive because the SA kept saying "that's all we can offer, take it or leave it, there are others waiting". If I'm spending more than 1.5 million Rupees, I expect to be treated very well.

I remember in 2007, the service experience at Honda, when we went to book the Civic, was excellent. And last week, when I'd gone with a friend to check out the City, it was satisfying to see that's something Honda is still doing right.

Kia would do well to understand that the customer isn't forgiving in the long run. Just because they've got a hit now doesn't mean they can get away with poor service. As more customers get their deliveries, the focus will shift to service experience.

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Originally Posted by coolkurt (Post 4710982)

I had similar experience with the Hyderabad Kia dealer who wanted me to book slots for test drives for the next day or come early in the morning, around 8AM for test drives. I had equally bad experience with the Hyundai and Tata dealers who didn't have any car available for test drives. None of 4 dealerships followed for a TD later.

But my experience with the Bangalore Kia dealer was nothing short of excellent. I walked in on a Saturday evening and was attended to by a SA within a few minutes. I was offered test drives for all the variants available with them - 1.5 D MT and AT, 1.5 P IVT, 1.4 GDI MT and DCT. I chose only the two manual options as I love manuals. I took two TDs of 7-8 kms each and returned to the dealership once I was satisfied. The dealership has followed up four times with me in the past 2 months. After the TD, we liked the car and hence, I bought it.:)

However, I do agree that the allotment and delivery process of the Seltos is not transparent. Both, the OEM and the dealers, are at fault here and need to do a much better job. They also need to improve their supply chain.

From what I have observed, the dealership experience differs from dealer to dealer. A lot of it depends on the staffs employed and the management/owners. I have had better experience at a Tata dealership than a Nexa one :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolkurt (Post 4710982)

Thats unfortunate I also took a TD of seltos just a few days back but with the timetable of the Kia people and before that I took a TD of Compass Trailhawk which was rather easy to get.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashis89 (Post 4711039)

But my experience with the Bangalore Kia dealer was nothing short of excellent. I walked in on a Saturday evening and was attended to by a SA within a few minutes. I was offered test drives for all the variants available with them

I too had a very good experience with my dealer at Bangalore. I took multiple test drives. In fact, my SA took special permission and arranged test drive of HT manual petrol in an unofficial test drive car (may be a car allotted to the dealer for delivery). I changed my booking from HTX manual petrol to GTK and this change was handled well by the dealer too.

According to a media report, Kia plans to invest around US$ 54 million in its manufacturing unit located at Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.

The Anantapur facility is Kia's first plant in India. It has an annual capacity of 3,00,000 units. At present, the Kia Seltos and Carnival are built here.

In the second half of this year, Kia will begin production of the Sonet, which is expected to compete with the Maruti Vitara Brezza, Hyundai Venue and the Tata Nexon in the Indian market. The carmaker plans to introduce one new car every 6 months and by early next year, the company is expected to have at least 4 models in its portfolio.

Kia claims to have trained more than 2,400 people. Of these, 1,589 have been employed in Kia. The company has also appointed vendors who employ more than 14,000 people with majority of them from within the state.

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