By William Kelly
Statisticians tell us that every day humans experience surprise as an emotion, on average around twelve times a day. The more gullible you are, apparently the more you are surprises you will experience on average.
Let me tell you about mine. As it happens, it turns out that I am surprisable even with my severe and advanced case of jaded cynicism.
I was invited to the launch of the recently facelifted Kia Rio down in Cape Town. I hadn’t been to SlaapStad in a while and so I was looking forward to it, despite the initial ruse that this was a Lamborghini launch by my colleagues.
I suspect they may have realised my “gullibility” early on.
No matter. A day out is better than a day at work, right? Oh, yes.
This is work.
The immediate fact is that Kia takes the Rio pretty seriously. For good reason: if you start a sentence with the word Kia, 9 out of 10 times your mind has filled in the second word for you with Rio. It’s not surprising because Kia have done quite a bit of work on the Rio brand and I think it is safe to say that the Rio is pretty much now a household name in car speak.
I could rabbit on endlessly about the upgrades to the car in this facelift but I am not going to. This isn’t like Porsche where we could all devolve into a sense of outrage because the damned badge on the front of the car has been turned into a sticker to save weight. And the cost of this upgrade is more than a new house, or an entire Rio. And secretly we all approve inwardly because, hey, its stupidly cool.
The Rio is well, not to put too fine a point on it, not that. It is at the same time so much more in some ways. It’s substantially more attainable for a start. And it shares commonality in that it does what it says on the tin.
This is what I want to focus on. The tin.
Chief on the list, and because Kia asked nicely, I have to mention that the Rio has an infotainment module upgrade across the range. In essence your mobile is now connected to your car – and as one who listens to his music mostly on the move, this is something I whole heartedly approve of. I am sure Kia are overwhelmed by my generous appraisal of all their hard work in this sector that frankly they understand far better than I ever could. But there is more to it than that.
The list of kit in any car is always important – especially when it’s you chucking down between R280k to R360k of what Sars allows you to keep after your working day which you can claim as mostly yours. I know I want maximum bang for the pitiful crumbs I have left, and I would choose music probably ahead of anything else other than air-conditioning.
It is I suppose, part of my dull and dreary drudgery of being a motoring hack to write all of the Rio’s upgrades down in meticulous detail so that you can compare the features of the car point for point and then go and buy the Polo anyway.
But seeing as how it has already been done for you here, let’s rather take a swim in the murky waters and the dank, dark parts that aren’t in the brochures.
And then you can make up your own mind as to the test drive. Here’s a hint. Just do it already.
I have touched on the expense of cars. It is a relative exercise but don’t forget that the purchase price is just the start. As a motorist you are going to spend a lot of money on car taxes such as road licenses, tolls, fuel levies, tyre levies, emissions taxes, VAT, speed control (barf) and probably another 100 insidiously invasive infringements into your pay cheque that I have missed. Add the running costs that aren’t actual taxes and you are making a massive financial commitment no matter which way you slice or dice it.
I can only speak for myself but the last thing I want to see is my investment in my motoring pleasures go up in flames. Or to lose faith in my chosen brand because they lied to me and/or the authorities about how environmentally responsible they actually are. Or to watch my brand fade away into obscurity, along with any value my vehicle may have.
So it is obvious that you are not only getting into the Kia Rio, the actual car, but you are also getting into Kia, the actual brand.
This is Important with a capital I. I enjoy having confidence in the brands that I buy into. Confidence that if there is a problem they will sort it out the right way. That they back their product and consequently me. That the relationship between me parting with my cash in exchange for their product is a clearly defined one. And most importantly when I complain, they listen and act. It isn’t rocket science.
You would be amazed at how hard it is to get this simple mix right.
There have been countless squillions of dollars spent by propeller heads in suits with death by Power Point presentations, market research, consumer studies and other heavens knows what to try and identify how to get a consumer to ultimately part with their cash to buy Brand X’s car. I am not for one second dissing it – it’s valuable and delivers results but…
It has been a long time since I sat down with a CEO who could take complex subjects and distill them down to the level a hack like myself can comprehend. One who understands that the car business is truly a long haul model which will ensure the long term viability of the business. One built like this as opposed to chasing market share for ever declining profitability and ever greater strain on an already thin margin. One who gets that the process is really about getting the right customer into the right car at the right value for both parties.
I have to admit that I had no idea who he was until way after the fact. And that is perfectly okay because you can see the attitude trickled into the brand at every turn. It’s called accessibility and that helps to sell cars to customers that you know and keeping them happy.
You can see it in the five-year unlimited mileage warranty. I did not read the intimate Ts and Cs because I genuinely believe I don’t have to. Kia’s tin says it all on the outside and they carry it through from the top down. I need no more than that. If you’re prepared to back your product with a warranty like that (within reasonable tolerance levels from both sides) that tells me you have my back.
And when you have the right leadership filtering through with the team that drive the brand in South Africa you have the makings of a winning formula. The car becomes almost incidental in the transaction – its dwarfed by the value add that is the brand behind it.
This, for me, was the point of the Rio facelift. I think Kia have got a mix of a solid car underpinned with a solid brand value. So do yourself a favour. Go and see Kia. Test them out. And test drive the Rio. You can thank me later.
Fast Facts:
Kia Rio
- Price: R361,995*
- Power: 73Â kW/ 135 Nm*
- Fuel consumption: 6,2Â litres/ 100 km (claimed)*
- Top speed:Â Â 175 km/h*
- Rivals: Hyundai i20, Toyota Yaris
*1,4 TEC Auto
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