If you search on Google under ‘Kia record sales’ there are 15.7 million results to choose from, evidence of how the brand is becoming synonymous with success.

In the UK, it has just set a new record, achieving its best ever annual sales performance with more than two months of the year to go.

Sales in October were 12.4% up on the same month last year while year-to-date sales are up 21.5% to 57,736 units, a staggering figure considering the current economic climate, but only just over halfway to its
long-term ambition of 100,000 sales a year.

Over the past 14,000 miles, I have been hugely impressed with our long-term Kia Optima, particularly its solid build, comfort on long journeys and impressive features, such as intelligent Bluetooth that reads out your text messages if you verbally confirm it’s safe to do so.

It looks like a lot of other people have been impressed by the car too, judging by the comments on kiaownersclub.co.uk.

The biggest niggles seem to be with a small proportion of dealers who are finding it difficult to match soaring sales with high levels of service standards, particularly in relation to warranty issues or parts availability.

There are very few mentions of difficulties, but it is something that is worth monitoring considering the speed with which the Kia car parc has grown over the past few years, as demand for Kia dealer support is likely to increase at a similar rate.