GROWING sales, an expanding community of customers and with a background of more than 40 years of business, the Brede family’s NCM motor group in Canberra this week celebrated with the opening of a new Kia dealership.

Complete with the latest CI, the new Kia sales and service centre is a stand-alone building that replaces an older, shared franchise complex.

It is part of a rebuilding and renovation program underway by the 12-brand NCM group that also includes refurbishments for the Nissan, GWM and Suzuki franchises in Belconnen.

Keith Cruse, the dealer principal of NCM’s Belconnen site – which includes Kia, Nissan, GWM and Suzuki – said that the work gives greater efficiencies for the business while new building design such as rooftop parking for 70 cars, eases previous parking restrictions for customers. 

Once completed, they expect to reach a sales target of 150 new vehicles and 50 used vehicles a month.

Mr Cruse said the Kia portion of the work at Belconnen involved most of the multi-million dollar budget.

“The primary aim was to have a new, purpose-built showroom and service area for Kia which, until now, had been in a building that was 40 years old,” he told GoAutoNews Premium.

“At the same time, the Kia site had no public parking facilities which made it difficult for prospective buyers to visit the showroom.

“So a priority was customer parking for the Kia showroom which we have incorporated into the building’s rooftop.

“The aim was also to maximise customer comfort and convenience, so the service lounge was designed along similar lines to a Qantas Club, with all modern facilities and decor.”

The new service lounge is shared with customers of Kia, GWM, Nissan and Suzuki. The four brands also share the workshop which meant some changes to the floor space design.

Mr Cruse said that to reduce service and repair times and booking schedules, NCM increased the number of hoists in the workshop by five.

“We now have 14 hoists with 14 technicians to reduce waiting times. The technicians generally work on 50-60 jobs a day so it’s a busy workshop,” he said.

NCM is currently completing refurbishment of the separate Nissan and GWM (GWM, Haval, Ora and Tank) showrooms.