Commercial director exits Kia

Kia Motors (UK) commercial director Alex Smith is leaving the company after three years. It is not known if he has a job to go to.

Smith, who joined Kia in December 2003 as general manager of sales channel strategy, was promoted to commercial director in December 2005.

Kia’s new UK managing director Paul Philpott says: “Alex has been key to the development of the brand and helping Kia to become a major player in the UK market. He has worked closely with our dealer network to ensure that Kia’s reputation has moved away from ‘cheap’ and now appeals to value-conscious motorists who want desirable, high-quality products that offer reliability.”

Philpott joined Kia earlier this year from Toyota GB, where he was commercial director, as exclusively revealed by marketingweek.co.uk.