{"id":263790,"date":"2023-12-05T13:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T17:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/english-kia-americas-eric-watson-named-a-2023-all-star-by-automotive-news\/"},"modified":"2023-12-05T13:49:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T17:49:00","slug":"english-kia-americas-eric-watson-named-a-2023-all-star-by-automotive-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/english-kia-americas-eric-watson-named-a-2023-all-star-by-automotive-news\/","title":{"rendered":"KIA AMERICA&#8217;S ERIC WATSON NAMED A 2023 ALL-STAR BY AUTOMOTIVE NEWS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><![CDATA[\n\/* Style Definitions *\/\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Eric Watson<\/span> oversees national and regional sales operations in <span class=\"xn-location\">the United States<\/span> where Kia set its seventh consecutive retail sales record in 2023<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Fast-growing Kia has achieved 16 consecutive months of year-over-year growth and surpassed the brand&#8217;s all-time total volume record in the U.S. in under 11 months<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">IRVINE, Calif.<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Dec. 5, 2023<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212; <span class=\"xn-person\">Eric Watson<\/span>, vice president, sales operations, Kia America, was honored as an <i>Automotive News<\/i> All-Star for 2023. The\u00a0<i>Automotive News<\/i>\u00a0All-Stars recognition is an annual award honoring outstanding leaders in the automotive industry.<\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpg80d0left\" dir=\"ltr\" style=\"width: 100%; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"prnejpg80d0left\" title=\"Kia America\u2019s Eric Watson named a 2023 All-Star by Automotive News\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/2293537\/Kia_Logo.jpg\" alt=\"Kia America\u2019s Eric Watson named a 2023 All-Star by Automotive News\" align=\"middle\"\/><\/div>\n<p>In his role, Watson oversees the company&#8217;s national and regional sales operations throughout the United States.\u00a0Kia&#8217;s year-to-date sales in the U.S. have increased more than any other mainstream brand versus the same period in 2019 and the fast-growing brand surpassed its all-time U.S. annual record in November.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m honored to be among the 2023 Automotive News All-Stars as both past and present recipients of this award represent the best of the best within the industry,&#8221; said Watson. &#8220;I am dedicated to fostering relationships and creating an environment of collaboration, respect and professional excellence and I am lucky to be part of an organization that also holds those values in the same high regard. My colleagues at Kia America and throughout our nationwide network of dealer partners inspire and motivate me every day and I share this honor with them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kia America has achieved 16 consecutive months of year-over-year growth with average sales per dealer increasing by more than 30 percent and overall dealer profitability exceeding the mass market brand average for the past 30 months. In addition, Watson has helped facilitate Kia&#8217;s transition from ICE models to electrified vehicles, which now account for 16-percent of Kia&#8217;s sales mix.<\/p>\n<p>Watson joined Kia in <span class=\"xn-chron\">December 2017<\/span> as the Director of Field Operations and was named vice president of sales operations in <span class=\"xn-chron\">January 2021<\/span>. Prior to joining Kia, Eric held various leadership roles in sales and marketing with Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Mazda.<\/p>\n<p><b>Kia America \u2013 about us<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>Headquartered in <span class=\"xn-location\">Irvine, California<\/span>, Kia America continues to top automotive quality surveys. Kia is recognized as one of the TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2023. Kia serves as the &#8220;Official Automotive Partner&#8221; of the NBA and offers a range of gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles sold through a network of over 775 dealers in the U.S., including several cars and SUVs proudly assembled in America*.<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><i>For media information, including photography, visit\u202f<\/i><i><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=4042899-1&amp;h=227074175&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fnam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.kiamedia.com%252F%26data%3D05%257C01%257CBrian.Devenny%2540zenogroup.com%257Cc3c66b8ffaad47f2a0e108db95258ded%257Cb824bfb3918e43c2bb1cdcc1ba40a82b%257C0%257C0%257C638267760783377650%257CUnknown%257CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%253D%257C3000%257C%257C%257C%26sdata%3Dzn1gLVjQ%252FJ%252FHzgs%252BJgQRei9nereBOO%252BiwXLXHgByKCk%253D%26reserved%3D0&amp;a=www.kiamedia.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.kiamedia.com<\/a><\/i><i>.\u202f<\/i><i>To receive custom email notifications for press releases the moment they are published, subscribe at\u202f<\/i><i><a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=4042899-1&amp;h=1684719260&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fnam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.kiamedia.com%252Fus%252Fen%252Fnewsalert%26data%3D05%257C01%257CBrian.Devenny%2540zenogroup.com%257Cc3c66b8ffaad47f2a0e108db95258ded%257Cb824bfb3918e43c2bb1cdcc1ba40a82b%257C0%257C0%257C638267760783377650%257CUnknown%257CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%253D%257C3000%257C%257C%257C%26sdata%3DM4lYvWJVXszp75uQLzpE4roZA%252BmUuxE0p9TscSTX4zU%253D%26reserved%3D0&amp;a=www.kiamedia.com%2Fus%2Fen%2Fnewsalert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.kiamedia.com\/us\/en\/newsalert<\/a><\/i><i>.<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><i>* The Sportage, Sorento, and Telluride (excludes HEV and PHEV models) are assembled in <span class=\"xn-location\">the United States<\/span> from U.S. and globally sourced parts.\u202f<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Logo &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=4042899-1&amp;h=4089560033&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F2293537%2FKia_Logo.jpg&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F2293537%2FKia_Logo.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/2293537\/Kia_Logo.jpg<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SOURCE  Kia America<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Eric Watson<\/span> oversees national and regional sales operations in <span class=\"xn-location\">the United States<\/span> where Kia set its seventh consecutive retail sales record in 2023<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Fast-growing Kia has achieved 16 consecutive months of year-over-year growth and surpassed the brand&#8217;s all-time total volume record in the U.S. in under 11 months<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">IRVINE, Calif.<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Dec. 5, 2023<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212; &lt;span&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-automotriz"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}