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The Koreans Are Coming

Perhaps they should have gainfully employed them making common components, instead of outsourcing the supply.

You are not wrong. Delphi came to be in the mid nineties when GM separated their parts business from their car making business.

The issue with the unions was that the employees transfer was agreed on based on an arrangement whereby GM would not make any redundancies and furthermore GM were to absorb back any employees made redundant at Delphi.

In a growing market this worked well, but come 2000/2001 and the market started shrinking, GM had their own employees they could not make redundant , and they had to take back their ex-Delphi employees in droves... all with expensive private health care plans, I should add. Sitting at home twiddling their thumbs. They eventually let go some 11,000 employees worldwide.

Delphi went into Chapter 11 in 2005, and in 2008 GM needed a US government bailout. Delphi has since been broken down and sold in 2009 into private ownership.

The End....
 
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Plus a similar story with Visteon coming out of Ford.

Maybe it shows that some companies become too large to manage effectively?
 
Outsourcing has its advantages though:

- specialist suppliers tend to be more efficient
- no long term liabilities


True. But the downside risk can be great. Schwinn Bicycles is a good example of how to lose control, followed by losing the business.

Last Chicago Schwinn
 
OK, the first crack appears...

Still happy with the car, however the Kia main dealer that just serviced my car seems to have been trained by the Mercedes dealer that I no longer frequent for reasons described elsewhere... not good :(

Must try another dealer next time - perhaps it's a London thing, should try looking farther afield.
 
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Oh, and they charge in MB main dealer territory...
 
OK, the first crack appears...

Still happy with the car, however the Kia main dealer that just serviced my car seems to have been trained by the Mercedes dealer that I no longer frequent for reasons described elsewhere... not good :(

Must try another dealer next time - perhaps it's a London thing, should try looking farther afield.
Uh-oh...

Oh, and they charge in MB main dealer territory...
So Kia are losing the plot already?

There's something strange about the UK retail motor trade. No wonder the manufacturers used to refer to the UK as "Treasure Island" :o
 
My rather radical suggestion is that if 'budget' companies such as Kia/Hyundai/Toyota can offer 7 or 5 year warranties, then 'Premium' marques should show their confidence in their product and commitment to their customers by offering a TEN year warranty.

That should get the buyers through the doors :)

Oh, and my experience of a Kia warranty claim was that after the winter I had a little milkiness on my two front alloys (diamond turned). Not really visible unless it was pointed out.

Kia replaced all four without question.

It's not about the confidence,
its about the cost of parts and the skillset to repair the marque.

And simple business, low volume high margin always wins so long as its consistent of course.
There will always be a market for premium products, it's human nature and unlikely to change in our lifetimes.
 
These long warranties only really become value if they up the mileage limit to something above 120k probably 150k.

Then fleet managers will take notice - there is a lot of pressure to move to 48mth leases but the last line of resistance is that the 3rd year will be out of warranty with all makes as most fleet vehicles do higher mileages. If you are doing 30k per annum even the koreans are out of warranty at the end of q1 of the 4th year... leaving 9months of big bills (potentially).

I don't think it really matters with company cars though, most take a maintained contract anyhow so the year four cost is built into the lease.
Our employer just put us into CCs with a four year maintained Lex contract.
It's shockingly expensive tbh, and who essentially pays for it? The employee, not the employer.
The upshot is the employee takes a more lowly car every year to keep margin.

Lex add something like £130pcm extra for a E220 on a 4yr lease, 25k p/a full maintenance. The reason I took the allowance and did better myself.
That is ex VAT too. A couple of services and a pair of tyres a year? Doesn't stack up for a regular careful user.

I did look at every marque as I'm not al all brand loyal. And whilst the Kia looked great from the other side of the glass the build quality is crap.
Reckon it will run to seven years and 100k? I don't.
 
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Kias are essentially Hyundais in cheaper suits. Hyundais last well, and give little trouble. It won't cost you much to offer a long warranty if your cars are reliable. Maybe that's why M-B don't.....
 
Changing a light bulb I noticed that the lamp design is very simple, only a couple of main parts, plastics slightly bulky with rough seams and not precision-moulded, main bit looks like made of galvanised sheet metal with sharp edges... simple wire with no grommets or clips or holders...

Rolex / Omega / Brietling fans, look elsewhere, this is not precision engineering, it's a Casio...

But it does seem simple and reliable and does the job, and Hyundai/Kia do back it do with 7 years warranty, which beggars the question: are Western cars over-engineered?

Of course it is nice to hold in your hand a piece of mechanical perfection, but doesn't the Casio show the time just as accurately?

Hmmm....
 
Kia's and Hyundia's don't seem any or little cheaper than comparable Honda, Nissan or Toyota cars for example.

When I bought a pre reg. Civic, at the time extended warranties were available. I think I paid £100 for a 4th year Honda backed warranty, which included recovery.

Not convinced the Korean cars' warranties are any great deal.
 
OK, the first crack appears...

Still happy with the car, however the Kia main dealer that just serviced my car seems to have been trained by the Mercedes dealer that I no longer frequent for reasons described elsewhere... not good :(

Must try another dealer next time - perhaps it's a London thing, should try looking farther afield.

Similar - I went to my local Kia dealer first and they were unable to sell me a car! Gave me a ridiculous price for a C Class (it was a CLK convertible), asked if the timing belt had been changed (fair enough - it's a car salesman, I shouldn't expect him to know about cars) and after a stupidly long time came back with a suspiciously low repayment schedule which was for a different model to the one I had asked for, and for a PCP, when I said I wanted to purchase.
Warwick Kia otoh were excellent. Gave me what I wanted for the CLK, did a deal I was happy with, and we were delighted.

They also 'lost' daughter No3's cash deposit. Soon sorted out by daughter No1. You don't argue with daughter No1

Oh, and they charge in MB main dealer territory...
Not my experience - I paid for three years servicing and first MOT up front for under £300 - that is good value, and means that as I don't pay road tax, my only expenses for the firs FOUR years will be Insurance, fuel and consumables such as tyres/brakes etc.
I also had an additional oil and filter change at 1500 miles - I cant remember the exact amount but it was under £50

I did look at every marque as I'm not al all brand loyal. And whilst the Kia looked great from the other side of the glass the build quality is crap.
Reckon it will run to seven years and 100k? I don't.

Again, not my experience. The build quality is excellent - I think that Markjay's analogy with the Casio is a good one.
Do you really think that one of the largest car manufacturers in the world would have a business model that is bound to fail? What do you think they will do to all of the cars and customers whose cars have failed at under 100k/7 years?
 
Further to previous posts....

Car was serviced by same main dealer again (Kia dealers are few and far between) :(

Not impressed.... they refused point blank to raise the issue of the broken key with Kia Motors as warranty repair, only option available to me is complete new key and fob assembly at £190 (the key is working fine, but the hinge is broken due to very bad design - common fault, according to Google search).

Their concept of service schedules seem to be a bit of hit and miss.... replacing items without any relation to the time/mileage intervals as specified on their own job sheet :doh:

On the plus side, they collected and returned the car for free, and their collection driver was a very pleasant and most helpful chap.
 
Not impressed.... they refused point blank to raise the issue of the broken key with Kia Motors as warranty repair, only option available to me is complete new key and fob assembly at £190 (the key is working fine, but the hinge is broken due to very bad design - common fault, according to Google search).

I suppose you could contact Kia UK, or put a comment on the Facebook page etc. I've certainly seen comments about broken keys being replaced by Kia.
 
Well, I posted a comment here.... ;)

I might write to Kia, the key does work but the dealer's attitude is annoying. They refused to raise this with Kia UK - and I have experienced the same attitude from Vauxhall and MB dealers in the past.

On one ocassion I actually wrote to Vauxhall Motors in Luton and had a satisfactory resolution from them (they sent me a cheque for the value of 75% of the amount the dealer charged for the reapir at the time). This is after the dealer simply did not want to try and make a claim.

It is annoying when dealers can not be bothered to make the effort and provide good customer care.
 
Quoting your first post

The car can be serviced at any VAT-Registered garage as long as original Kia parts are used - and this is the case for the entire seven years, i.e. both the standard warranty (which is common across manufacturers anyway) and the extended warranty (where other manufacturers usually insist on dealer-only servicing as a warranty condition).
I am slightly surprised you went back to the same main dealer?
 
Do the North Koreans make any cars? If so is there a prescribed hairstyle to be adopted while driving? :)

K
 
Do the North Koreans make any cars?

I guess they make a big pie van fitted with a flame thrower in steering wheel and pack of vicious dogs in the back.
 
They have some Mercs I believe [ possibly for reverse engineeering?] but mainly big Chinese/Russian style limos.
They will be sh*t just like their government.
Automotive industry in North Korea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Here's a picture of one of their limos.:rolleyes:
chaju_64_hersnijding.jpg
 
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