Mantles Kia Royston takes a podium place at Kia Dealer Excellence

Mantles Kia was rated the second-best Kia dealership in the UK, and was also high ‘Highly Commended’ in ‘Sales Excellence’, ‘Customer Experience’ and ‘EV Excellence’ categories.

• Our Mantles Kia Royston site received joint-second place in the ‘Dealer of the Year’ category at the 2025 Kia Dealer Excellence Awards, announced during the annual Kia National Dealer Conference in Liverpool, which took place on Tuesday 13 January.

  Mantles Kia Royston was jointly named second place alongside our fellow GMG dealer, EMG Kia Ely. Mantles Kia Royston also received ‘Highly Commended’ in the ‘Sales Excellence’, Customer Experience’ and ‘EV Excellence’ awards.

  Leading the field this year was EMG Kia Cambridge, again part of our Group, meaning we secured the top three ‘Dealer of the Year’ positions for the second consecutive year, highlighting our customer-led attitude.

• Paul Philpott, President & CEO of Kia UK, commented: “For the second year running, the top places were again dominated by one group, each part of the Grainger Motor Group, led by Harry and Neal Grainger. It is a testament to their leadership and consistency that all three 2025 ‘Dealer of the Year’ awards have gone to their dealerships.

  “I would like to say a big thank you and congratulations to the team at Royston and all at Grainger Motor Group for their outstanding commitment to Kia, and for their hard work that helped Kia reach a new record result in 2025.”

   More than 1,000 Kia dealer staff and employees attended the conference, which opened with this year’s business focus, ‘Shaping our Future’. The conference outlines Kia’s performance over the past year – another record year in the UK – as well as honouring the dealerships that have led the way.

   Kia’s dealerships are ranked by consumers as among the best in the UK, while the brand itself is often rated by dealers as the number one franchise. Kia has been ranked the number one volume brand franchise in the past six successive National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) Dealer Attitude Surveys.

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• Dealer Excellence Awards

  The annual Kia Dealer Excellence Awards recognise outstanding performance across Kia’s nationwide network of 190 UK dealerships. This year’s honourees were celebrated for their exceptional commitment over the past 12 months, with the coveted ‘Dealer of the Year’ title awarded to the top performing retailer, and the joint second-placed dealerships each receiving a ‘Dealer Excellence’ trophy.

  For the second year running, the ‘EV Excellence’ award reflects the growing momentum of electric vehicle adoption. The award sits alongside the established ‘Sales Excellence’, ‘After Sales Excellence’ and ‘Customer Experience’ awards. Each category names a single winner, supported by up to nine ‘Highly Commended’ dealerships.

   

  Kia in 2025

  Kia ended 2025 as the UK’s fourth most popular car brand, with a healthy 5.6% market share and having registered 113,436 units. Kia continues to add fresh consumer choices and updates to its multi award-winning model line-up. In 2025 alone, these include the updated new Sportage, new Stonic and new EV6 GT, alongside new model launches of the EV4, EV5, EV9 GT, K4, PV5 Cargo and PV5 Passenger. 2025 also saw the EV3 win both the ‘2025 World Car of the Year’ and ‘2025 UK Car of the Year’ awards. In addition, Kia’s first dedicated electric commercial vehicle, the PV5, picked up the ‘2026 International Van of the Year’ award along with a host of other prominent ‘Van of the Year’ awards from various automotive publications.

   

  2026 and beyond

  Kia kick started the year with the reveal of the EV2 at the Belgian Motor Show on 9 January. Following this, the model line-up will be further strengthened by the launch of the Seltos in the UK – a popular model in other markets – and various derivatives of the PV5 commercial vehicle. These models, supported by the rest of the line-up, will help Kia to aim for yet another record year in 2026.