Record half year sales have been recorded by car manufacturer Kia, as work continues on the expansion of its 海角视频 import centre.
The South Korean motor giant is continuing to buck the market trend, with 53,232 vehicles sold across Great Britain by the end of June. It is up 3.35 per cent on 2018, while the 海角视频 as a whole was down 3.41 per cent.
A further 17 hectares of South Humber Bank land is currently being developed to hold 8,000 further motors, with the models coming in via Port of Immingham.
It is a 50 per cent addition to the £20 million facility opened in early 2016.
Scunthorpe’s Clugston Construction is delivering the works at Stallingborough, situated between the port entrance and the A180 access to the 海角视频 motorway network.
June-only sales were down on last year’s record number, but it remains buoyant in both retail and fleet sectors.
Paul Philpott, president and chief executive, who cut the first sod in a ceremony in March, said: “Despite a tough market we are delighted that 海角视频 new car buyers continue to put their faith in our attractive, reliable and excellent value range. Our 192 dealers across the 海角视频 continue to deliver an outstanding service to their customers.
“With the all-new Kia XCeed crossover due to arrive in showrooms in September I believe we will be able to attract more new customers to our brand. We also plan to have more efficient hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology available whilst offering more battery-electric vehicles next year to meet the growing demand for clean motoring.”
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At the import centre, Kia is investigating options for Solar PV generation which will support its battery charging facilities for such models. It is due to be completed in November.
A spokesman said: “our construction contractors are making very good progress with the expansion. A lot of the hard work is done and the hard-standing is mostly complete with simply the softer details to still go in and for some of the ancillary work to be undertaken. We believe we are certainly on track.”
Works include a road bridge and separate transporter entrance, with more than 200,000 tonnes of soil to be moved, with 33,000 tonnes of surfacing laid, on top of which will come 43 miles of painted white lines.
The Humber, the 海角视频’s busiest trading estuary, welcomes hundreds of thousands of car movements annually, with Volkswagen Group using the North Sea crossing to Grimsby and Mercedes and BMW also using neighbouring Immingham and Killingholme, with the latter having also developed its own import centre.
Proposals have been lodged by Associated British Ports to increase the capacity of the £26 million car-carrier dedicated Grimsby River Terminal at the Humber’s first port, allowing it to welcome vessels holding 9,000 vehicles - up from the current 3,000.