Plans approved for Kia dealership on new £7m business park in Kendal

A new Kia UK car dealership is set to be developed as part of a new £7 million business park on the outskirts of the Cumbrian town of Kendal.David Smith, the former managing director of Rayrigg Motors, which was acquired by Lloyd Motor Group in January this year, claimed that the development could create between 300 and 500 jobs following his submission of plans for the development, the Westmorland Gazette reported.Smith told the newspaper that there was already a waiting list for units on the planned site north of Meadowbank Business Park, Shap Road, describing the proposed development as “one of the most exciting commercial developments that’s happened in Kendal in a very long time”.His application includes permission for a roundabout off the A6 to support the development, a spine road linked to the roundabout, the Kia dealership and a shared access road serving the site.Plans for the Kia franchised site include 228-space car park, 39 of which would feature electric vehicle (EV) charge points.The Westmorland Gazette reported that an earlier version of the proposals had been considered and rejected “in its current form” by Kendal Town Council in October 2021.Revised plans were approved at a meeting yesterday (June 16), however, after case officer Andrew Martin recommended the application for approval.Kia UK president and chief executive Paul Philpott recently revealed details of the Korean brand’s new corporate identity (CI) in a manufacturer profile feature with AM.He also suggested that the AM Awards 2022 Manufacturer of the Year, which is aiming to deliver a record 100,000 new car registrations in 2022, would also continue to grow its proportion of standalone operations in a sector generally pursuing the development of cheaper multi-brand retail sites.Among the first two UK dealerships to feature Kia’s new CI were the OEM-operated retail site in Bolton, to which AM paid a visit earlier this year, and Vertu Motors’ franchised site in Edinburgh.