Kia and Hyundai May Have the 'Cracked the Dealership Code'
Kia Motors' internal ranking of U.S. dealers will result in "preferred" dealerships receiving the bulk of new EV models in 2024.
Hyundai sold 269,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in 2023 (including Kia Motors) and has ambitious plans for 2024. A recent Electrek article via Automotive News reports Hyundai expects to increase EV deliveries by about 10% in 2024, shooting for 300,000 total EV sales.
So how is Hyundai and Kia Motors going to “crack the code in the U.S. with hesitant dealerships? Recently, Plugged In EV learned Kia is targeting EV-friendly dealerships to sell EVs in 2024 that have had sales success. According to the source, the OEM wants dealers to sell near MSRP prices.
According to an anonymous source, Kia Motors has identified “essential” dealers in their network and will provide these dealerships with Kia EV models. The automaker doesn’t want unmotivated Kia dealers involved, and will send EVs to “10 to 15 dealers” across the U.S.
Macro view: In general, legacy auto dealerships have been pushing consumers away from EVs over the last ten years due to many reasons: less maintenance work, a more complex sell, sales staff turnover. In addition, the National Association Dealers Association (NADA) is scared of this. “Once people experience driving an electric car, it’s like you can never turn back,” adds Kay Schilling, an EV owner and manager of an apartment building with Level 1 charging.
Washington Post Shannon Osaka’s article on EVs and dealerships provided a deep dive on dealers and EVs in 2023, “Electric Vehicles are Hitting a Road Block: Car Dealers (free link). The comments are telling, (below):
From Jzcode: “Your mileage may vary. Before we bought a Tesla we looked at Hyundai EV, but, were told we couldn't have one in Florida because while there are plenty of dealers, none of them knew how to repair one. The Tesla dealer is not too far for us and commonly, they will come to your house for minor things.”
“If I had to describe Hyundai right now in two words, it would be growth and investment,” says Kevin Reilly, the chairman of the Hyundai National Dealer Council. Hyundai recently reported that its new dedicated automotive plant in Georgia will go online in Q4, which get the automaker closer to the full $7,500 discount off the starting prices for its line of vehicles: Hyundai Ioniq 6, Kona Electric, Kia EV 6 and EV9, to name a few.
Hopefully, targeting a select few dealers will work for Kia and Hyundai. Visit Plugged In EV and other online resources to find these “preferred” dealerships: social media car groups on Facebook and Reddit.
More Fast Charging Coming for non-Tesla drivers
Attention Ford owners, see Jim Farley recent news below:
And the good folks at Mach-E Vlog — Patrick and Liv — have an interesting post on NACS via the Chargeway App.
