Shabsogh Leaves Kia For New Role With Hyundai In Saudi Arabia – Hetherington Announced As Commercial Director

• Yaser Shabsogh to leave Kia Motors (UK) Limited
• To be Managing Director Almajdouie Hyundai in Damamm
• Simon Hetherington named as Commercial Director at Kia

Kia Motors (UK) Limited today announces that Commercial Director Yaser Shabsogh will be leaving the organisation at the end of January to take up a new role in the Middle East and will be replaced by current Business Development Director, Simon Hetherington.

Shabsogh joined Kia in 2007 when UK sales totalled 29,372 and leaves just as the brand has set a new sales record of 78,536 in 2015. He originally occupied the role of Sales Director but was given the wider role of Commercial Director in January 2013.

He is taking up the position of Managing Director of Almajdouie Hyundai, the distributor in eastern Saudi Arabia based in Damamm and Paul Philpott, President and CEO of Kia in the UK said: “Of course we are very sad to say goodbye to Yaser, but we understand his desire to take up a new challenge and given that he was born in Riyadh we also recognise that he has strong family ties to the Middle East.

“Ever since he joined us from Ford he has brought energy, commitment and good humour to our sales and commercial operations and I wish him only success in the future,” he added.

Hetherington joined Kia in 2007 as Marketing Director and since 2011 as Business Development Director he has been tasked with leading the growth of the Kia network. That growth over recent years has seen Kia's dealership network reach 188 – its strongest-ever position.

Philpott commented: “Simon is a remarkably able individual who has turned his hand to a variety of jobs within Kia and I am confident that as Commercial Director he will play a pivotal part in helping the company and its strong dealer network achieve our ambition of reaching 100,000 annual sales by the end of the decade. Simon understands our dealer network, the challenges they face and the need for them to be sustainable and profitable in order to deliver the very best experience and service to the growing family of Kia customers.”

Philpott and Hetherington plan to undertake a review of operations to enable Kia to take even better advantage of the challenges in the UK new car market. Hetherington takes up the role of Commercial Director from February 1, 2016.

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