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Kia's fleet sales are expected to remain flat in 2013 compared with last year, according to UK chief executive Paul Philpott, although he is happy with the performance because the sales mix has strengthened with rising corporate business and decreasing daily rental registrations.
Speaking exclusively to BusinessCar at the Frankfurt motor show, Philpott said: "While we should finish the year on just over 72,000 vehicles and retail sales are up 22%, fleet is flat. But we're down on Motability and daily rental and up on corporate by about 10-15%. Last year we did 8000 cars in daily rental; this year it will be 6500. This is due to supply issues from the factory."
Kia's longer-term aim is to become a brand selling 100,000 vehicles a year, but Philpott refuses to be drawn on a timescale for this target.
"The brand has the potential to hit this figure, but it depends on product cycles and growing a sustainable fleet business."
Meanwhile, Kia is keen to enter the growing supermini-SUV market and used the Frankfurt event to reveal a concept car called Niro similar in size to the Venga supermini-MPV. While very much a show car, Kia is keen to take a slice of the market pioneered by the Nissan Juke.
The Niro is base on the platform that will underpin the next generation of supermini-sized vehicles form Kia, and will spawn a production version, aimed at user-choosers, who can expect bold styling as Kia's designers believe customers want a more adventurous look in this segment. Kia was also keen to highlight the Niro's 160hp 1.6-litre petrol engine, although there are also expected to be more efficient offerings that will appeal to fleet customers.
Kia's European chief operating officer, and former UK managing director Michael Cole said: "The B-SUV segment is the one that has the most potential for growth, like the C-SUV market had a few years ago."
Cole added that he expected a supermini-SUV to pull more new buyers into the Kia brand.
"The growth in this sector won't come from existing Kia customers. When we launched Sportage it pulled in buyers from a huge range of areas," he said.
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