The plant is located about an hour southwest of Atlanta.
Kia dealers have, on average, a 15-day source of Tellurides in their batches, according to Cox Automotive data. In genuine terms, this is that those SUVs come out almost as fast as they arrive. In contrast, GMC dealers have an average 76-day source from Acadia and Toyota dealerships have an average 51-day source from Highlander. Both are Telluride’s competitors.
Ben Burton, general manager of Parkside Kia in Knoxville, Tennessee, said he already had a covered client for each and every Telluride he expects to receive until September.
“As soon as I get a VIN number, other people say, “Okay, this is the one I want,” he says. “They didn’t see the car, they didn’t touch the car, they didn’t smell the car and they’re hired in the car and they’re in a good position to go.”
The call for the SUV helped, Burton said, through a heartbreaking Super Bowl announcement last January that showed a child talking about his network in West Point, Georgia. “We hope to be known for what we do,” he says. “What we’re building.”
He also helped a number of awards for Telluride. Among the highs are the MotorTrend SUV of the Year award last November and the North American SUV of the Year award in January.
Telluride has excelled in virtually every field, said Mark Rechtin, MotorTrend’s editor-in-chief, from design to driving to handling and internal functionality.
“It’s almost a unanimous resolution to make it the SUV of the year,” he said. “They did it.”
Pandemic disorders
The giant and spacious Telluride was an American project. It was designed at Kia’s design studio in Irvine, California, to create a spacious SUV that would appeal to Americans, Kia spokesman James Bell said. Most progression checks were carried out at Kia’s control track in Mojave, California.
Beyond its own attributes, Telluride is in a segment of the market that is doing well right now. Car sales have fallen due to coronavirus, but medium-sized SUVs are among the types of cars that have performed best, according to Kelley Blue Book data. (Small pickups and crossovers work even better).
Teluuro production began in February 2019, but the plant closed in April 2020 due to considerations of coronavirus and disruptions in the source of portions caused by the pandemic. The plant began to increase production in early May and now runs on 3 groups almost 24 hours a day, generating Tellurides, smaller Sorento SUV and Kia’s new K5 sedan.
But even at this rate, production remains high.
As a result, some distributors qualify more than the value of the Tellurides decal, which rarely happens in the automotive industry. Customers negotiate discounts with distributors. In this case, distributors tell customers: if they need a Telluride, they have to pay more.
On average, Kia Tellurides are sold 3% above the manufacturer’s recommended retail price, according to the knowledge of TrueCar, an automotive pricing website. Toyota Highlanders sell 7% below MSRP and a Ford Explorer 8% below. Even the Hyundai Palisade of similar size, which stores much of its engineering with Telluride, is sold under the manufacturer’s recommended retail price, or MSRP.
Case insists that its distributors never value stickers in principle again. “It’s too ephemeral and too long in memory,” he said of the takeover.
To make things even more successful for Kia and its distributors, Tellurides consumers need the most to be the fundamental model, but more sumptuous versions with more features and higher upfront prices.
The decal value for the Telluride LX base style starts at approximately $32,000. SX prices, the most sensible final level, start with an additional $10,000. This includes features such as 20-inch wheels, two sunroofs, a high-end stereo with 10 speakers, more chrome on the outside and more leather on the inside.
“The ones we were testing were at a diversity worth $46,000 to $48,000 and we were with each other thinking, ‘This is bigger than a Mercedes,'” Rechtin said of MotorTrend.
Gradual changes
Not so long ago, Kia’s brand can be summed up in one word: cheap.
Kia’s global design director Peter Schreyer worked on the past at Audi. Kias will also offer a sharper driving feel than its competitors, such as Toyota and Nissan. Cars like the Kia Stinger compete credibly with German sports sedans, at least in terms of functionality and available capacity, if not refinement.
The logo also has a reputation for quality. Kia ranked first among the automotive mass market logos at J.D. Power-Assoc. Initial quality survey for the last six years.
“It’s a major replacement for Kia’s debut in the U.S. market,” said Burton, who has worked with the company for nearly 20 years.
Those days were left behind, he said, and now other people wait their turn to buy SUVs that charge up to $50,000.
“The cars went from a disposable car where you bought it, you take the wheels off it and then you throw it away,” he said. “Now other people buy those things because, in some cases, it’s a luxury car.”
© 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved. CNN contributed to the story.