Amid Dismal Auto Sales, Little Kia Shines
What is Kia? It’s a Korean company that built bicycles in the ‘50s, motor scooters in the ‘60s, and expanded to autos in the ‘70s. The first Kia car came to America in the ‘80s, marketed as the Ford Festiva. In the ‘90s Kia started selling cars here under its own name.
So what does Kia have to do with the City of Falls Church? First, some amazing statistics: Maybe you have heard of Kia, maybe not. But you are familiar with such brands as Audi, Buick, Mercury, Saab, and Volvo. Well, the January national sales figures just came out, and little Kia outsold those better-known cars. Not just outsold them, but outsold them COMBINED!
Comparing January U.S. sales records one-on-one, Kia also outsold Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Chrysler, Infiniti, Jeep, Lexus, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercedes, Pontiac, Porsche, Saturn, Subaru, and VW.
And in a month when even mighty Toyota’s sales dropped by 32 percent, Kia registered a 3.5 percent increase.
Now the Falls Church connection: Right on Broad Street is one of only four Kia dealerships in all of northern Virgina. (The others are in Alexandria, Fairfax, and Manassas.) So this should be very good news for the City.
This is not an ad for Beyer Kia, and in the interests of journalistic integrity and sloth, I didn’t even give them a call. If I had, I might have asked how the Beyer Volvo side is faring, given that January national sales figures for Volvo were down 64 percent. But then I would also need to call International Motors on South Washington Street to ask how their Saab sales are doing in light of January’s 46 percent national drop.
The other two new car dealerships in the City would also not be fun calls to make: Koons Dodge (nationally down 50 percent) and Koons Ford (national figures down 40 percent).
A final car thought: While the City pursues its quest to achieve a “brand image,” I recall a friend telling me that back in the ‘80s his attention was drawn to Falls Church City because the police cars were all Volvos. That must be a classy place to live, he reasoned, and in fact he moved here. The Volvo police cars are history now, of course (guess they went out with Mayor Beyer), and Falls Church City’s Finest drive Fords with V8 engines.
But – given that the top speed limit in the City is 30 mph, do we need those big Fords? Of course the City should buy locally – hmmm – how about an economical police car? How about a Kia? That would “brand” our City faster than any video presentation.
By George Southern
February 4, 2009
It is a shame that our city does not get the sales tax from autos or even gasoline sold in the city. That money goes to the state transportation fund and is apportioned to each jurisdiction by how many miles of road each has. Being only 2.2 square miles, we don’t get much. Hopefully all those cars sold in the city are being processed in our DMV Select office in City Hall. We do get a piece of that money.
That doesn’t mean Kia is a better car than any of the brands mentioned. It just tells me that they are the most inexpensive cars. Sales going up? Of course. People are poorer and “dream car” is no more within reach. So one can only go for a car that one can afford, and what do you think this car will be? If I can afford a Mercedes or a BMW, would I take a Kia instead (even if it is a good car) ??? But at the end of the day, give them much credit, they got the right car, and they are not going out of business like GM or Chrysler.