SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

• Leading name in the world of mobility
• Highly attractive product portfolio
• Product Portfolio: Kia Motors has a wide product portfolio with multiple offers in categories like sedans, coupes, sports cars, passenger cars, SUV’s and crossovers. Some of their brands are Optima, Forte, Sedona, Cadenza, Sorento, and Niro.
• Brand value: Kia is a valued brand across the world with an estimated value of 6.7 billion USD which is up by 6.7 % from the previous years. The brands from the company have also been consistently included in the top 50 brands of the world.
• Positioning: Kia positions their cars as vehicles that can provide driving experiences that surpass customer expectations. Their cars are also superior in terms of styling and performance.
• Hybrid cars: Kia Motors have introduced the hybrid version of their variants Cadenza and Optima both popular brands globally. They are characterized by regenerative braking systems and EV drive mode.
• Focus on environment friendly innovation
• Strong performance in the US and other leading markets:

Weaknesses:

• Lack of focus on marketing
• Decline in unit sales in 2020
• Poor reach: In comparison to competition Kia Motors has not been able to reach out to a wider audience and has restricted itself to smaller and niche markets.
• Brand Identity: Though a well-known brand in its home market, Kia Motors has been struggling to build a brand identity or a positive image for itself in Europe and USA and has been largely unsuccessful in doing that.
• A shift of focus: Kia which was primarily focusing on fleet sales earlier have attributed their dip in revenues to the decrease in demandfor fleet vehicles and decided to reinvent themselves as a retail car brand. This may not be a right strategy.
• Poor advertisements: The company has been looking primarily at sponsorships of Formula 1 and other sporting eventsand ends up spending most of their promotional budget there with the result that they are almost invisible in the retail market.

Opportunities:

• New environmental policies
• New customers from online channels
• Market potential: Research indicates that emerging markets are going to be huge future sources of revenue for automakers. Markets like Chinaand India are going to give more demand than the USA or Europe.
• Improved infrastructure: There has been a focused effort by governments of emerging economies to improve the condition of the road and to enhance road safety. There has also been an improvement in intercity connectivity through highways which in turn improves long distance driving prospects as well.
• Change of trends: The growing number of dual-income households, the increase in urban migration, more women drivers on the road etc will all create a positive impact on car sales.

Threats:

• Rising costs of raw materials can pose a threat to the Kia Motors profitability.
• Competition: There is high competition in the automakers market. The main rivals of the company are Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.
• Regulatory framework: With concerns like global warming and depletion of fossil fuels, the regulatory framework for the automobile is likely to be made stricter and there may be a stringent control on quality and environmental compliance. This may create an additional cost for automakers.