The ongoing pandemic has proved to be a challenging period of time for the society. Therefore auto companies have come up with numerous initiatives to help ease the challenges faced by their customers, their vendor parties, dealers and their employees. The latest to join the bandwagon is Kia Motors.
Kia Motors India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kia Motors Corporation has announced several measures to support its dealer partners in difficult times of COVID-19. The company announced a program to help its dealers steer through the challenging phase, which includes multiple initiatives to sustain and improve the cash flow to the dealer partners. Kia Motors India has evaluated the current situation and looked at various areas of the business where it can support its dealer partners.
In terms of support on inventory, the company will support the interest cost of dealer stock, including vehicles in physical & transit stock. As far as reversal of inventory funding amount is concerned, the unutilized dealer funds lying with the company have already been remitted back to the dealer’s current account. Speaking of warranty and NVI claims, all the accepted Service Claims for warranty have been credited to the dealers’ account. All the extended warranty payments have been credited to dealers and the company announced priority clearance within 15 days post lockdown for all dealer invoices
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Commenting on the measures introduced, Mr. Kook-Hyun Shim, Managing Director and CEO – Kia Motors India said, “Our dealer partners are one of the key pillars of growth for us and form a foundation for Kia to connect with the consumers in the country. We are committed to offer our continued support in these testing times and will undertake all necessary steps to help them navigate through the situation together with us. Dealer viability and stability is at the core of this program and we hope to spread positivity through it.”
Moreover, to promote online sales, Kia Motors India will be taking multiple initiatives. In addition, to encourage customers to book their favourite Kia cars online and reduce physical interaction points. A detailed guideline has been issued by the company to its dealerships to prepare them to operate in accordance with the government norms of distancing and sanitation, post the lockdown. The dealerships will be supported with 50,000 masks to help them face the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to this, Kia Motors India has taken several measures to ensure the safety of its customers and employees by promoting social distancing. The brand has suspended its operation at all its offices and dealerships, extended the period of free warranty service by 2 months for its customers. The company has also donated INR 2 Crore to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, along with 1 Lakh masks to the government for its COVID-19 initiatives. The company is also considering numerous other activities in order to help the society at large fight the COVID19 pandemic. Recently, the South Korean carmaker has started a campaign – #RewindKia to communicate to the people of India to stay at their homes and be safe during this pandemic.