Jim Click has added a Kia dealership at the Tucson Auto Mall to his lineup.
Click said he was awarded the city's second Kia franchise by the Korean automaker's U.S. distributor on Feb. 1 and is leasing the former Desert Kia site, at 775 W. Wetmore Road, with an option to buy.
Desert Kia was part of a group of Arizona auto businesses, including Budget Car & Truck Sales dealerships in Tucson and Green Valley, operated by Malco Enterprises, which is owned by the Mallo family. The Budget stores on West Orange Grove Road and in Green Valley closed last year.
Tucson's other Kia dealership is Royal Kia of Tucson, 4635 E. 22nd St., part of the Royal Automotive Group.
Click said two Kia dealerships might be considered one too many in today's economy, but Kia had the fastest-growing U.S. sales of any automaker in 2009, and "when the market comes back, there's plenty of room for two dealers" in Tucson.
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Mo Hindash, a 15-year veteran of Click's Southern Arizona operation, is the new franchise's general manager. He said the new dealership, which already is operating but will have a grand opening starting Monday, has 25 new and 25 used Kias in stock, and 65 more new vehicles on order.
Click said Kia has a strong lineup of economically priced vehicles and has been advertising heavily, including during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast, to push U.S. sales.
The company has nine vehicles, including small cars, small and larger luxury SUVs, and minivans, but no trucks. Only two of its 2010 vehicles have manufacturer's suggested base prices of more than $20,000.
Hyundai Motor Co., Korea's largest automaker, became Hyundai Kia Automotive Group when it bought a majority share of Kia to make it Asia's second-largest automotive manufacturing group, after Toyota, in the late 1990s..
Hindash said Kia has one U.S. manufacturing plant, in Georgia.
Click already has three Hyundai dealerships, two in Tucson and one now operating side by side with his Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealerships in Green Valley.
He said Hyundai sales have been strong, in part because of dramatic increases in quality over the last 10 to 15 years and because of some of the industry's longest warranties.
Contact reporter Dan Sorenson at 573-4185 or dsorenson@azstarnet.com