Pride Park based NK Motors has reported a surge in sales since completing a £1m showroom refurbishment on the eve of its 20th anniversary in Derby.
The Kia dealership, in Orient Way, has this week seen its 35,000th car driven off the forecourt since moving to its Pride Park home in April 2005.
NK Motors, which also sells around 200 used cars every month from Pride Park and its other base in Chilwell, saw its sales of Kia cars from the Derby branch exceeded the 2,500 mark last year despite work being carried out on the revamp.
The project took 12 months to complete and included the addition of six new upper-floor offices, a double mezzanine space upstairs and a make-over of its large showroom. As a result of the business’s increasing success, it is hoping to ramp up £100m in turnover this year compared with the already impressive £80m achieved in 2024.
Group managing director Sanj Kumar puts the success down to the increasing popularity of Kia’s new model range and great choice of electric vehicles combined with his firm’s constant commitment to improving services for customers.
“Kia cars have come a very long way since the early days, and customers love the quality, the high basic specification and the seven-year warranties that the manufacturer provides,” said Sanj.
"But NK Motors’ success is also about how we treat our customers and the fantastic environment we provide for them at our Derby showroom."
“As an official Kia franchise dealership, we have certain standards and guidelines that we must meet in terms of our showroom, branding and presentation. But with this latest refurbishment, we have gone above and beyond what we are required to do."
“It’s an amazing space, and we’re extremely happy with the result – not least the car sales results which seem to have coincided with the completion of refurbishment work at the end of last year.”
NK Motors Group also includes a car dealership in Eldon Road Business Park, Chilwell, Nottingham, very close to where Sanj’s dad, Nindy Kumar, launched the original business in 1981. The Eldon Road branch also sells a combination of used cars and new Kia vehicles.
In those days, Mr Kumar senior launched his business as a car mechanic and MOT centre before expanding into used car sales. But it was Nindy’s foresight in striking a deal in 1999 to buy a batch of 150 Kia cars that truly launched the business and built its ongoing relationship with the South Korean car manufacturer.
Sanj joined his dad’s business as a teenager in 1998, working in various roles, from vehicle technician to sales executive, in Chilwell before the milestone move to Pride Park in 2005. Nindy continues to play an active role in the family business.
The NK Group now employs 120 staff across all businesses, while NK Motors has doubled its turnover in the last 10 years and is now forecasting another major leap in sales to £100m by the end of this year.
The firm, which continues to offer Kia-approved workshop and servicing facilities on site, currently has over 600 cars in stock. The wider NK group also includes an inhouse construction team, a horse livery, a large commercial property portfolio and the hugely popular Nicco restaurant and bar, also in Pride Park.
“We’ve come a very long way as a business since dad opened his garage in 1981,” said Sanj. “But thanks to a bit of luck, some shrewd business decisions and an awful lot of hard work, we’re still growing strong and have even bigger plans for the future.”
