Renewal on the way
In December it will be determined whether the small Kia Picanto will end up in second or third place in the Dutch sales ranking. Striking, because this model is no longer the youngest with its year of birth 2017. Renewal is therefore on the way.
The choice in the A-segment has long ceased to be huge, but younger and fresher models can still be found here than the Kia Picanto. Even its cousin, the Hyundai i10, is two years younger. Then we have not yet talked about the Toyota Aygo X, which appeared on the Dutch price lists just before the turn of the year. The Aygo will probably end in 6th place in 2022, so we have to note that deliveries had to start this year. The i10 seems to be heading for an 18th place ‘overall’. The Picanto most likely finishes on the podium and is a handful of units away from the number 2, the Kia Niro, through November.
As we concluded earlier, an i10 is basically even cheaper than a Picanto. Nevertheless, the first explanation of the Picanto success emerges with a closer comparison of these price lists. The Kia has standard air conditioning, while with Hyundai you have to go one step higher on the ladder. The price then rises to €17,695, 800 euros more than the simplest Picanto. Even when it comes to private lease, the Picanto often seems just a little cheaper, although that has everything to do with your specific wish list.
Stable
The importer is of course happy to shed some light on the matter. “In fairness, the Picanto’s 2022 sales numbers are broadly in line with the trend. This segment as a whole is shrinking, but we continue to sell stably,” says spokesperson Laurens van Bergeijk. Of course he also likes to confirm what we also concluded in tests: “The Picanto of course offers ‘a lot of car’ for your money. It is quite spacious and can be equipped for everything you want”. Nice, but that also applies to the i10 and largely also to the Aygo. After that, however, there will be an important addition: “Don’t forget the 7-year warranty!”.
A 7-year warranty, that can indeed be of decisive importance for buyers in this segment. Unlike Hyundai (5 years), Kia has a mileage limit, but 150,000 kilometers is not easily achieved by the average A-segment car. An extra two years plays a major role. Moreover, we can imagine that the somewhat tighter, tidier design of the Picanto Dutch buyers like the somewhat rounder shapes of the i10.
The warranty argument, of course, mainly applies to people who buy the car instead of leasing it. However, there are still quite a few of them. According to Kia, just over half of Picantos are for business customers. So the rest is private. Slightly more than thirty percent of the total, i.e. 60 percent of the private half, currently goes through private lease. So the rest is bought, as is a significant part of the business half.
Delivery times
Although the Niro and the Picanto have to put up with the Peugeot 208 in the model ranking, Kia as a brand is heading for the number 1 position in the Netherlands for 2022. Good, especially since Kia is not immune to the delivery problems that the (automotive) currently occupying the world. According to the importer, the results could ‘certainly’ have been even better without those problems, although people in Breukelen are certainly not dissatisfied. And what about the delivery times for a new Kia? “That differs per model. For a Niro EV you have to take into account six months to a year, for an XCeed three months. The Picanto is nicely in between at 5 to 7 months.”
News on the way
Of course they are happy with the results at Kia and there is little reason for the brand to change much about the Picanto. Nevertheless, we can expect Picanto news in 2023, the importer promises. This seems to be a (second) facelift of the current model, which was also tightened in 2020.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl