Horizon Kia boasts nifty new dealership

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This article was published 26/01/2007 (6921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THIS past Monday Horizon Kia, which opened for business in May, 2005, moved to its permanent new dealership at the Manitoba Auto Mall (at Waverley near Bishop Grandin).

Dean Tesser, vice-president of sales and marketing for Kia Canada, said the dealership is one of the first in the country to be built according to the Kia corporate image guidelines.

“We think that the Winnipeg market has a lot of potential,” says Horizon Kia dealer principal Bruno Niederer.

Niederer is a Swiss-born chef and hotel owner turned auto dealer who is based in Thunder Bay, Ont. He opened Performance Kia in Thunder Bay in 2002. Since then, he has also opened Performance Volvo and is a partner in Halfway motors (a Nissan dealership) operated by John Trevisanutto in Thunder Bay. Trevisanutto is also a partner with Niederer in Horizon Kia along with Ted Jensen, who is the general manager of the new Winnipeg Kia dealership.

The partners originally opened Horizon Kia in a storefront on St. Mary’s Road along with a second smaller location on Pembina Highway. “We outgrew the St. Mary’s Road site very quickly,” Niederer says.

The dealership had been in a temporary location on Pembina Highway while the new 16,000 square foot, $3.8 million facility was being built.

The new building has an eight-car showroom with a reception area on one side and Cafe Kia — a customer lounge and children’s play area on the other — with a clear view of all areas of the dealership. The dealership also boasts a double drive-thru service area, eight service bays, two wash bays and a quick lube drive-thru area.

Niederer reports that the dealership currently has 120 new models on the lot. “We expect to be carrying 150 new models in inventory by spring and we are looking forward to adding to our used inventory over time,” he says. “We will also be adding more staff in the service and parts areas as we get busier.”

He reports that the dealership’s sales were up 30 per cent last year and he expects further growth in the new location at the auto mall. “There is good traffic here,” he says.

“We are committed to ensuring that our customers have a good driving experience,” he says. “By looking after them, we aim to keep them as customers for life.”

The grand opening will be in the spring,

“Bruno and his team have shown a strong commitment to our brand and to the people of Winnipeg,” says Tesser, a former Winnipegger. “This new state-of-the-art building represents a significant investment. We wish Bruno and his staff the best of luck.”

Kia is one of the world’s fastest-growing auto manufacturers. Tesser notes that Kia sales in Canada grew just over 5 per cent last year as compared to the industry average of under 2 per cent.

“Our sales would have been much higher except for a strike at our Korean plant and another strike at the port in Vancouver,” he says. “The port was closed for 65 days. We couldn’t get any product in.”

That kind of disruption will become moot in the near future when the company’s first North American manufacturing plant opens in two to three years. The groundbreaking ceremony was held in November, Tesser says. He reports that the new plant will be turning out 300,000 vehicles a year.

He expects Kia’s sales in Canada to grow by more than 20 per cent this year, thanks in part to the manufacturer’s new Rondo which Kia is calling the “world’s first urban utility vehicle.”

myron.love@freepress.mb.ca