Kia premiered the new Optima Hybrid at the Los Angeles motor show.  We were looking forward to be able to offer Optima Hybrid contract hire, however this car is aimed mainly at the US market where it will be launched first, perhaps coming to Europe later. It’s an exciting vehicle which boasts a 40% fuel efficiency improvement over the standard model.

It seems that when the vehicle’s brakes are applied, Kia cleverly converts kinetic energy into electricity, which is then stored in the vehicles batteries. The fact is not many of us really understand how a hybrid car works, indeed most of us don’t understand how the internal combustion engine works; we just get in and drive.

This vehicle is likely to be another winner for Kia. Kia is a very cleverly run company; they have very attractive products and the right marketing. We have found that our orders for Kia contract hire cars have increased steadily over the years and sales enjoyed an extra boost when Kia increased their warranty to seven years. This was a very smart move on Kia’s part and must have finally dispelled any fears there could have been over Kia’s build quality.

The seven year warranty has inevitably helped Kia’s residual values; many of the vehicles that car leasing companies dispose of, is at the end of a three year lease and they are generally outside of their warranty period. A three year old car which still has four years unexpired warranty is a very attractive proposition. It also helps those who want to extend their contract hire term; the vehicle will still be under warranty and therefore not the hirer’s responsibility if the car should go wrong.

When Kia was first launched in the UK many felt it would not succeed but succeed it has and it will eventually become a force to be reckoned with. We now sell more Kia car leasing vehicles than we do Skoda. This is due in part to Kia’s success but also, as extraordinary as may seem, Skoda is still having difficulty shaking of its image of poor quality; dating from the period before it was taken over by Volkswagen.  The Skoda is an excellent vehicle and its sales deserve to grow at the same rate as the Kia.