Kia Australia Says it doesn’t expect supply levels to improve for at least 12 months, and EV6 in particular remains supply-limited.
Although some models have a hold-up, it expects to sell a record 72,000 cars this year, up from 67,964 last year. Of these numbers, it expects the 2000 to be electrified and no more than 600 of its new EV6.
“In my view, I think it’s going to be at least 12 months [before supply levels normalise]Kia Australia’s Chief Operating Officer Damien Meredith said.
“I think what is going to happen is that demand will decrease a bit, supply will increase and so we are going to meet the back orders that have occurred in the last 18 months.”
Almost every automaker has struggled with supply problems, as the industry sees a shortage of semiconductors and the COVID-19 lockdown in China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine affect production of key components.
Electric vehicles have been particularly difficult for carmakers to bring to Australia, with most priority markets such as Europe having fleet emission targets.
While it says the supply of new, second-generation Nero is “OK”, Kia Australia is fighting to secure more EV6 allocations.
“I think we’re probably looking at 600 this year, more than the 500 we’ve been allotted. That’s a 20 percent increase, “said Damien Meredith, Kia Australia’s chief operating officer.
“It’s better than nothing.”
Kia has previously said that the demand is strong enough that it can sell 3000 EV6 annually, but it can’t get that kind of supply.
Mr Meredith says the current waiting time for an EV6 is 12 months or more. However, he noted that there are currently a handful of items for sale within its dealership network, while many of those orders are for the upcoming GT flagship.
Of the 2,000 electric cars Kia plans to sell this year, most are limited supply, such as the Sorrento Hybrid and the Plug-in Hybrid.
Kia confirmed earlier this year that it had been able to deliver 20 Sorento hybrids per month and only 10 PHEVs per month.
It is not just electrified models where there is a lack of supply.
The Celts, in particular, have been in short supply for the past 18 months and the situation is not expected to change with the updated model in the second half of this year.
Kia says the backorder for Carnival People Mover has started to decrease. The company confirmed earlier this year that some backorders were up to 12 months old.
Sportage is another vehicle where things are getting back to normal.
“We are constantly in talks to get better supplies [with Kia Global]Roland Rivero, product planning manager at Kia Australia, says.
“We are optimistic we can secure more stocks [of Sportage] In the second half of 2022]”
Although some dealers have made headlines for charging expected dealer delivery fees – an example of a Ford Ranger – Mr Meredith says the company has been able to make sure the dealer network is intelligent.
He says one of the biggest problems for cars is that people buy them and then sell them at a much higher price.
He acknowledged that the problem was affecting EV6, Carnival and Sorrento.