(Fri 27 Feb 09)

Motor industry magazine AM has given its Carmaker of the Year award to Kia. Although the list of finalists included Audi, BMW, Jaguar, MINI and Suzuki (quite an impressive list, you'd have to say), Kia took the honours for two reasons, one being the dramatic improvement in the product range since the cee'd was introduced in 2007.

The other aspect which appealed to AM was Kia's retail network, which has gradually expanded to 153 dealerships across the UK. "They have built bridges with retailers and asked for their input. While they have demanded growth in sales and aftersales, they have not resorted to flooding the market, or signing fleet deals at all cost."

AM also noted that Kia was one of the very few manufacturers represented in the UK to record an increase in sales during 2008. Registrations were up by 6.65%, while Kia's share of the total market went up from 1.22% to 1.47%.

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