PERSISTENCE. It’s the callcard of winners but sometimes nothing you can do can defy customer apathy as the slide in Australia’s micro-car market attests.

This month Kia jumped back into the micro-car market with its second edition of the Picanto, less than a year after launching the model name here.

Kia wants 200 sales a month and this year its tracking along at an average of 250 sales, including some units of the outgoing generation.

It is the top-selling micro-car in Australia – quite an achievement for any car less than 18 months old – with 40.7 per cent market share year-to-date to April and 985 sales.

It is followed by the former segment leader, the Mitsubishi Mirage, with 31 per cent of the market and then the Holden Spark with a 14.3 per cent stake. These three models clearly have the lion’s share of the category that is down 6.6 per cent for the year.

Sales have slipped primarily on the loss of a few brands, including the Volkswagen Up, Nissan Micra, Suzuki Alto, Fiat Panda and particularly the Hyundai i20 that, during 2013, recorded a whopping 14,100 sales before Hyundai Motor Company Australia pulled the Indian-made model during 2016 because it became financially unviable.

Does a micro-car have a place in today’s dealership? If it’s Kia, Mitsubishi or Holden, the answer is yes. The Picanto represents 11 per cent of Kia’s passenger car sales for 2017 while the Mirage takes 25 per cent of the equivalent Mitsubishi car share.

It is not such a stronger case with Holden where the Spark represents only three per cent of the brand’s passenger-car range yet outsells the combined sales of the Malibu, Insignia, Astra Sport and outgoing Caprice.

Importantly, the small-car sector serves as an entree to the brand. The better the owner experience when starting with the brand in a new, small model can lead to a higher incidence of remaining with the same brand.

Kia Motors Australia (KMAu) general manager of media and corporate communications, Kevin Hepworth, said the micro-car segment is important to Kia.

“It gives new buyers a way into the brand at an entry price but with enough technology and value to keep the brand in the consideration set as they move up through the car grades,” he said.

Is Australia interested in micro cars? Sales show that during times of high fuel prices, micro-car, light-car and small-car segments are in strong demand. Currently, fuel prices are relatively low and interest rates are skimming along the bottom of the pool, making buyers feel financially capable of moving up in price and segment size.

There have also been some blindside interventions to the market. The immensely popular Hyundai i20 left the market in 2016 because it wasn’t sufficiently profitable. In fact, it probably wasn’t profitable at all.

Then Nissan pulled its baby Micra from the market in 2016 despite the little car placing fourth best in the segment for sales. Volkswagen had previously wound down the Up on a lack of buyer interest in its manual-only gearbox which was a pity given its dynamics.

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Mercedes-Benz decided it’s Smart ForTwo was not worth the effort in 2015, ceasing the brand despite new models available in Europe, and Fiat dropped its Euro-centric Panda in 2016 and Chinese entrant Chery relinquished its campaign in 2015, selling only one car in its final year.

So there have been other factors affecting the segment that may not fully represent buyer interest.

Who buys the micro cars? Primarily commuters and urban motorists at either end of the age scale and with a preference for an automatic though not always prepared to pay for it.

Kia has introduced the Picanto with a seven year warranty, seven year roadside assistance and seven-year capped-price service program. Most of Kia’s vehicles have driveaway pricing on the automatic models and the Picanto is no exception, with a $15,690 tag for the auto straight off the showroom floor. The manual is actually more expensive at $14,190 plus on-road costs.

Kia clearly knows the market. It has introduced only one model with one trim level, one engine and two transmissions including the all-important city-focused automatic.

More variants are coming. Kia Motors Australia (KMAu) chief operating officer Damien Meredith indicated it was possible a more performance-oriented engine and a higher safety equipment level could hit the Australian market by the end of this year.

That has the potential to give Kia an even bigger share of the segment and change the minds of some rivals about the worth of the Australian micro-car market.

By Neil Dowling