KIA Cars (UK) is determined to 'earn its spurs' with fleet customers by beating its bigger competitors in adapting to the fast pace of change in the market with innovative ideas and new products. As part of its relaunch, announced at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year following Kia's rescue by Hyundai, Kia Cars (UK) has rethought its approach to marketing cars and introduced a wave of fresh new ideas along with its plan to vastly extend its product range.

With expected annual sales in the UK next year of 13,500, the company is small enough to react swiftly and has already proved its agility by promising to tackle worries over high prices in the UK head-on. In a first for car manufacturers, Kia narrowed the gap between UK and European prices to between 7% and 10% months before the Competition Commission rules on car prices at the end of this year. But Mark Quinn, managing director of Kia Cars UK, stopped short of urging competitors to follow his lead. He said: 'Each manufacturer must do what is right for them. We have done it and as a result, we have to run a leaner, meaner business.'

Next month the company will launch into the corporate arena with a new fleet sales programme. And as part of the launch of the new Sedona, the firm showed it would not be shying away from congestion problems which faced drivers of its new cars. Each driver will be offered a bicycle package with the car and the firm is in negotiations with councils throughout the country about how it can help with the development of cycle paths and help reduce car use. In March next year, a mini-MPV, the Carens, which is based on the Shuma platform, will go on sale in the UK and was shown in concept form at Frankfurt.