Kia Australia engaged on Order To Ship program, extra personalisation choices

Kia Australia is planning to supply extra color and trim choices, in addition to shorter home windows between putting an order and having your automobile begin coming down the manufacturing line.

It’s no secret that the Korean model presents plenty of exterior and inside color and trim choices in its house market in addition to abroad that typically don’t make it to Australia.

In keeping with Kia’s native chief working officer, Damien Meredith, that may very well be altering inside the subsequent two years.

“We’ve been large on maintaining issues so simple as doable,” Mr Meredith advised CarExpert.

“If product planning had their manner we’d have 15 colors [for everything], however we prefer to preserve issues fairly tight and simplistic. However with OTD (Order To Ship), it’ll occur.”

“It would occur the place a buyer will are available and say ‘I would like this, this, this and this’, after which in 90 days they’ll get their automobile in manufacturing. It’s not occurring tomorrow, however within the subsequent couple of years it would.

Mr Meredith and Roland Rivero, normal supervisor for product planning at Kia Australia, confirmed that extra selection in color and trim choices will type a part of this course of.

In contrast to its Hyundai mother or father, Kia’s native division hardly ever presents the total color and fabric catalogue, not to mention something aside from black even in its high-spec fashions.

At the moment, the Stinger is the one mannequin in Kia’s Australian vary that provides a couple of inside choice, with the GT-Line and GT providing the selection of black or purple upholstery relying on exterior color.

Prior to now the Sportage, Sorento and Carnival have additionally supplied gentle inside choices domestically, however with the present generations Kia Australia has pared them again to only one choice.

The present Sorento and Sportage, for instance, supply a number of selections in South Korea, with the previous providing Navy Gray and Saddle Brown leather-based choices in addition to a six-seat configuration which can be all not accessible in Australia, whereas the Sportage presents extra gray/blue and brown leather-based inside choices.

The favored Carnival individuals mover presents plenty of seating configurations overseas on prime of the eight-seat inside that’s the only real choice domestically, together with 9- and 11-seat layouts with 4 rows of seating, in addition to an opulent Excessive Limousine model that might put a Mercedes-Benz V-Class to disgrace.

Whereas it’s unclear precisely what extra choices will make it to the Australian catalogue within the coming years, however for purchasers wanting extra selection and extra personalisation choices – and from my information of Kia’s possession teams on-line, loads of these individuals exist – this shall be a welcome change shifting ahead.

Keep tuned to CarExpert for the most recent on this new initiative over the approaching 18 months. We’d even be tremendous eager to listen to your ideas within the feedback under.

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