A Tale of two markets – Capital Market Review November 2020

The Nigerian capital market witnessed a historic month on two fronts buoyed by increased system liquidity in the past month. Daily OBB and ONN rates remained low amid buoyant system liquidity.

In November 2020, the equity market posted its best monthly gain in 2020, up 14.8%m/m. November’s performance was the highest m/m return since January 2018 rally when the market posted 15.9%, sending the Index past 42,000 index points.

That rally was bolstered by increased liquidity emanating from the creation of the NAFEX (I&E windows) which peaked in Q1-2018. The recent Nov-2020 rally was mostly led by increased system liquidity resulting from an easing policy stance and a low yield environment.

Notably, Treasury yields had crashed and reached all-time lows at the first Primary Market Auction of the month. At the second auction and most recent PMA last year, rates were further depressed with the one-year paper stop rate closing at 0.15%.

The low yield environment in the short-term treasury reflected in the bond space, as average yields declined by 20bps to 3.08%. Investor’s appetite remained for long term Nigerian government instruments.

Although we have observed profit-taking in the equities market since the second week of November, we expect the increased system liquidity (N1.7trn of incoming OMOs maturities in December) to buoy demand for equities in December.

We also expect rates for treasuries barring any policy change to dampen further.

Zedcrest Wins Diversified Financial Services Group Award for the Second Consecutive Year

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…as Zedvance Emerges 2020 Best Automated Loan Origination and Processing Company

Lagos, Nigeria – 30 November 2020: New-age financial solutions powerhouse, Zedcrest Group has again won the Diversified Financial Services Group for the Year Award at the BusinessDay 2020 Banks & Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards held recently in Lagos.

DSC_1039 copy brandspurng Zedcrest Wins Diversified Financial Services Group Award for the Second Consecutive Year
L-R: Adedayo Amzat, Group Managing Director, Zedcrest; Lukmon Oloyede, Head, Product Marketing & Brand Communications, Zedvance Finance; Ever Ovi, Ag. Managing Director, Zedvance Finance; Henry Olayemi, FCS, Chairman, Reward Investment Ltd and Dr. Ogho Okiti, Managing Director, BusinessDay Media Ltd during the presentation of the Best Automated Loan Origination and Processing Company to Zedvance Finance at the 8th BusinessDay BAFI Awards held in Lagos. | www.brandspurng.com

The consumer lending subsidiary of the company, Zedvance Finance Limited also bagged the Best Automated Loan Origination and Processing Company of the Year for its adoption of paperless loan application process and prompt disbursement of loans to thousands of Nigerians.

DSC_1067 copy brandspurng Zedcrest Wins Diversified Financial Services Group Award for the Second Consecutive Year
L-R: Solomon Biachi, Head, Currencies & Alternative Assets, Zedcrest Capital; Ever Ovi, Ag. Managing Director, Zedvance Finance; Adedayo Amzat, Group Managing Director, Zedcrest; Oluseyi Akinbi, Managing Director, Zedcap Partners and Lukmon Oloyede, Head, Product Marketing & Brand Communications, Zedvance Finance at the 8th BusinessDay BAFI Awards held in Lagos. | www.brandspurng.com

Presenting the Zedcrest Group award to the company, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, the Publisher of BusinessDay, congratulated the management and staff of Zedcrest for their devotion towards building inter-connected financial solutions across Africa.

The Group Managing Director of Zedcrest, Mr. Adedayo Amzat, in his remark, said the recognition is a reminder that there is a reward for hard work and an encouragement for the team to do more.

DSC_0697 copy brandspurng Zedcrest Wins Diversified Financial Services Group Award for the Second Consecutive Year
L-R: Frank Aigbogun, Publisher, BusinessDay Media Limited; Ever Ovi, Ag. Managing Director, Zedvance Finance Limited and Henry Olayemi, FCS, Chairman, Reward Investment Limited during the presentation of the Diversified Financial Services Group of the Year Award to Zedcrest Group at the 8th BusinessDay Banks & Other Financial Institutions Awards held recently in Lagos. | www.brandspurng.com

“It is needless to say that the business environment is getting more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous by the day but with the right team and drivers in place, we were able to meet our proposed target for year-end. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, #EndSars protest and economic recession experienced in 2020, we were able to successfully launch our digital asset management and investment firm, ZIMVEST”, he said.

“This award is a reminder that there is a reward for hard work. I am particularly excited that we are winning these awards. This means a lot to us at Zedcrest Group and further reinforces our culture of dedication. It will inspire the team to do more and, certainly, we can only improve on our performance and win more awards in the coming years”, Amzat said.

Commenting on the award won by Zedvance Finance, Mr. Ever Obi, Ag. Managing Director of Zedvance Finance Limited said:

“We are very pleased to be recognized as the “Best Automated Loan Origination and Processing Company of the Year”. This particular award reflects our continuous efforts towards promoting financial inclusion through technological innovation.”

“Part of our digital transformation strategy is to create a seamless process of capturing customers’ data, verifying creditworthiness of prospects and improving loan application experience of customers through our digital channels,” he added.

BAFI Awards seeks to identify and celebrate the financial institutions and leaders that have excelled across many areas, including financial performance, shareholder value creation, brand value accretion, corporate governance, sustainability, employment of new technology, compliance, innovation, and contribution to the industry’s overall growth.

The BAFI Awards are universally recognized as the benchmark of excellence in Nigeria’s financial services industry. The 8th edition was held at the Lagos Intercontinental Hotel.

The company received both awards just a few weeks after one of its subsidiaries, Zedcap Partners Limited (ZPL) emerged as the FMDQ Gold Award winner for the Best Brokerage Service Firm in Nigeria. It clinched the honour for the second consecutive year as well.

The subsidiaries of Zedcrest Group include Zedcap Partners, the leading and largest interdealer brokerage firm in Nigeria; Zedvance Finance Limited, foremost consumer lending company in the country and ZIMVEST (Zedcrest Investment Managers), a new age expert investment management and wealth solutions provider.

Court Convicts Unity Bank Plc Vault Room Manager

The Maiduguri Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction Adam kaka Adam, a former banker in Unity Bank Plc, who was today sentenced to one-year imprisonment by Justice Ibrahim Jauro of the Yobe State High Court sitting in Damaturu.

The convict was prosecuted on one count of theft to the tune of N11, 657,500.00 (Eleven Million Six Hundred and Fifty-seven Thousand Five Hundred Naira).

ADAM_KAKA_ADAM_Brandspurng Court Convicts Unity Bank Plc Vault Room Manager1

Adam, a former service manager in charge of Vault Room and Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in Unity Bank Plc. Damaturu Branch, Yobe State allegedly diverted the said sum which was meant to be fed to the ATM of the branch.

ADAM_KAKA_ADAM_Brandspurng Court Convicts Unity Bank Plc Vault Room Manager1
Adam kaka Adam

The count reads:

“That you, Adam Kaka Adam while being the Branch Service Manager with Unity Bank Plc Damaturu, Yobe State, in charge of Vault Room and Automated Teller Machine (ATM) sometimes in the year 2017 at Damaturu, Yobe State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court and in such capacity dishonestly took the sum of N11,657,500.00 (Eleven Million Six Hundred and Fifty-seven Thousand, Five Hundred Naira) only being the property of Unity Bank Plc without its consent and with intention of permanently depriving it of the said sum and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Sections 286(1) and 287 of the Penal Code Law, Laws of Yobe State of Nigeria respectively.”

The Convict pleaded not guilty to the charge. In the course of the trial, the prosecution called seven witnesses and tendered several exhibits to prove the case against the defendant.

While delivering the Judgment today November 30, Justice Jauro found him guilty of the offence as charged.

The convict, however, pleaded for leniency and urged the court to temper justice with mercy. Counsel to the defendant, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed informed the court that Adam had previously been convicted for criminal misappropriation by Justice Isa Hamman Dashen of the Federal High Court, Damaturu.

Justice Jauro consequently sentenced Adam to one-year imprisonment with an option of N100, 000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) fine.

ADAM_KAKA_ADAM_Brandspurng Court Convicts Unity Bank Plc Vault Room Manager1

Here’s What You Need to Know About Local Digital Marketing for Franchises

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As a franchisee, you get a lot more support in running your business than you would if your location was an independent brand, but you’re still responsible for much of the day-to-day of running a business. Keeping the books, hiring and firing, managing staff, and customer service all fall to you. And, to some extent, so can local digital marketing.

Here’s What You Need to Know About Local Digital Marketing for Franchises Brandspurng

When you own a franchise, the general public sees your business as one branch of a large (sometimes giant) company. But you’re not just competing for business with other companies in your industry — you’re also competing with your company’s other franchise locations nearby.

Some of what makes your franchise location more popular than other locations of the same franchise are out of your control — for example, if your franchise has the better location, you’ll likely see more business even without putting extra effort into digital marketing.

But you can use search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and social media engagement to attract more customers, and carve out a niche for your specific franchise location in your community.

Social Media Is Your Friend

Social media may be the most powerful digital advertising and customer relationship management tool you have at your disposal. When a local business owner publicly declares an unsavoury political opinion or flaunts local public health guidelines, users take to the business’s Facebook page or Twitter to express their displeasure in the form of negative comments and bad reviews. But you can use your location’s social media presence to strengthen your relationships with customers and drive more traffic to your location.

People spend an average of 58 minutes a day on Facebook, so make sure your location has a Facebook page. Engage customers by sharing relevant, valuable content — videos are especially engaging for online audiences. Share photos of events at your location, staff hard at work, and regular customers enjoying your products and services. Respond to customers’ posts, reviews, and messages in a professional and courteous manner. 

You Need to Come In at the Top of Search Rankings

Most people aren’t going to look beyond the first page of search returns when searching for a product or service online, so if you want to catch the eye of locals looking for your products or services, you need to appear on the first page of search returns. Here’s where it can be valuable to spring for paid digital marketing for franchises.

Consistently coming in at the top of search returns requires both a combination of paid, targeted advertising on social media and organic search returns. You’ll need to create a regular stream of original, SEO-optimized content for your location’s website or microsite and social media pages, and most franchise owners don’t have the time to create multiple blog posts and videos a week, and that’s what it takes to draw in fresh traffic from search results.

Google will penalize sites that post duplicate content, or content that doesn’t create value for users or even sites that have too many internal links. It can be hard to wrap your head around SEO strategies and techniques if you’re not a professional.

Here’s What You Need to Know About Local Digital Marketing for Franchises Brandspurng

In addition to helping with content marketing, a professional SEO service can help you optimize your location’s website for local search with schema markup. Schema markup is a means of adding data-rich tags to your website’s HTML code, in order to give search engines more detailed information about your business and create the most accurate search returns possible.

This location-specific, structured data can include information about your local business type, location, products and services, prices, inventory status, and customer reviews. For example, if you’ve searched for local restaurants recently, you’ve probably seen that some returns contain estimated price information and a five-star rating based on Google reviews.

This is the kind of data you can add to your search returns by using schema markup to optimize your website’s HTML code.

Local digital marketing can do a lot to bring new business into your franchise location. With help from the right professionals, you can see increases in customer engagement and get more bodies through the front door — and that can translate to increased revenues and a stronger, longer-lasting local reputation.

Why businesses should ensure data privacy in vendor relationships – Andrew Bourne

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Whether we realize it or not, we are being tracked everywhere we go on the Internet. In fact, Internet surveillance is so widely used that several vendors have built businesses worth billions of dollars using this model. The websites and descriptions of these renowned data brokers and aggregators openly display the depth and breadth of the information they gather.

However, in plain words, it’s complete surveillance of our digital life.

An innocent facade with severe privacy risks in the background

Called adjunct surveillance, this kind of on-the-sidelines data collection is pervasive not just among B2C companies but also in the B2B space. Around the globe, businesses may unwittingly be providing third-party service vendors with not only their own data but also that of their employees and even customers.

Why businesses should ensure data privacy in vendor relationships - Andrew Bourne
Andrew Bourne

For example, it’s common for businesses to embed third-party tracking services (like Google Analytics, conversion tracking, and DoubleClick ads) in their websites to understand prospect preferences, improve user experience, and also reach a wider audience.

To get an overview about the depth of tracking employed today, simply plug any website’s URL into one of these websites and extensions. The personal data collected by the tracking cookies are usually sold by the third-parties to the highest bidders (usually advertisers) for profit maximization. The information can be used by the advertisers to build a detailed profile about us from our personal preferences to our identity.

Moreover, if the third-party vendor collecting the data doesn’t have robust security, it could result in a data breach that leads to exposure of customer data and sensitive business information. An average data breach today costs US$3.8-million, which can have an irrevocable impact.

There are also legal implications. In Nigeria, for instance, the NITDA Regulation allows for fines up to N10-million or 2% of company revenue, for companies found not to have taken adequate measures in protecting their customers’ data.

Fortunately, with a little education and by judiciously choosing the right technology providers, companies can keep adjunct surveillance at bay.

Maintaining data privacy in vendor relationships

When it comes to ensuring that the technology vendors your business works with do not mishandle your customers’ personal data, there are several important steps you can take. A good place to start is by choosing vendors that do not rely on ad-based revenue models.

Online advertising and data privacy are mutually exclusive. Any vendor that runs a business by displaying ads within their offerings in return for their freemium software cannot guarantee full privacy for you, your employees, and your customers.

It’s also a good practice to check whether your vendors follow a security-first approach to protect personal data such as using robust encryption techniques and securing data transfer channels.

Further, a regular assessment of their privacy policies can help you understand if they are as open and transparent as possible about what information they’re collecting if they follow a clear consent system, and what they use the data for.

Protection over profit

Ultimately, protecting user information should be more important than profit. Any vendor that doesn’t understand that and make it an active part of their policy doesn’t deserve your business as a customer. Not only are they riding roughshod over what should be a fundamental right, but they’re also actually putting your business at jeopardy.

Moreover, the times are changing. In the backdrop of increased privacy risks, today’s digitally aware consumers are steadily leaning towards businesses that hold data privacy as one of their core value offerings. It’s no secret that present-day customer preferences shape tomorrow’s business reality.

In which case, companies that set themselves ahead in this global privacy awakening, and become vocal and transparent about how they handle their customers’ personal data will maintain a competitive edge.

Andrew Bourne is Zoho’s Regional Manager for the Africa region and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has more than 15 years of experience in sales and marketing and has spent the last five years focusing on the implementation and testing of various business technologies. He is very passionate about Zoho and has exceptional insight into the business and marketing world.

With 45+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back-office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho Corporation is one of the world’s most prolific technology companies.

Zoho is privately held and profitable, with more than 9000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Austin, Texas. with international headquarters in Chennai, India. Additional offices are in the United States, India, Japan, China, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates.

More than 60 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself.

Local Bourse Kick-Start December on a Positive Note, Gain 0.30% to Sustain Uptrend

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The local bourse today (Tuesday) began the month of December on a positive note, as the market performance index, the ASI, gained 0.30% to extend the gaining streak to six consecutive sessions. However, market breadth closed negatively, recording 16 gainers as against 21 losers.

In summary, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 105.48 absolute points, representing a growth of 0.30% to close at 35,147.62 points. Similarly, the overall Market Capitalization value also appreciated by N55.17 billion, representing a growth of 0.30% to close at N18.364 trillion.

CAVERTON emerged top of the gainers’ chart for today with a gain of +9.88%, while CORNERST led the laggards with a maximum price depreciation of  -10.00%.

Today’s uptrend was also driven by price appreciation in medium and large capitalized stocks amongst which are; CUTIX (+9.80%), AIICO (+9.78%), GUARANTY (+5.42%), HONYFLOUR (+2.80%), UCAP (+2.22%), ZENITHBANK (+1.67%) ACCESS (+1.16%) and SEPLAT (+0.40%).

MARKET STATISTICS

CAP N18,364,778,888,623.89 One Day (ASI CHG) 0.30%
Index 35,147.62 One Week (ASI CHG) +2.35%
Volume 308,180,951.00 One Month (ASI CHG) +19.40%
Value N3,402,641,102.78 Six Months (ASI CHG) +38.96%
Deals 4,515.00 52 Weeks (ASI CHG) +30.55%
Gainers 16 Losers 21
Unchanged 62 Total 99
YTD Returns +31.20%

Source: NSEGTI Research

Sector Performance

Sector %    Change
NSE30 +0.37
BANKING +2.27
CONSUMER GOODS +1.36
INDUSTRIAL 0.00
INSURANCE -1.16
LOTUS ISLAMIC -0.03
OIL/GAS +0.19

 

Top 7 Traders By Volume

Company Volume Value (₦)  Closing Price (₦)
ACCESS   43,368,357.00   376,476,921.75 8.70
FBNH   31,934,748.00   229,789,381.55 7.20
MBENEFIT   24,434,500.00       5,155,841.00 0.21
UBA   24,092,641.00   200,213,240.15 8.20
GUARANTY   24,056,718.00   859,153,111.15 35.00
FIDELITYBK   15,982,850.00     41,537,161.35 2.60
ROYALEX   13,522,407.00       2,979,496.74 0.22

 

Top 7 Traders By Value

Company Volume Value (₦)  Closing Price (₦)
GUARANTY   24,056,718.00   859,153,111.15 35.00
SEPLAT     1,073,257.00   431,863,037.10 402.30
ACCESS   43,368,357.00   376,476,921.75 8.70
NESTLE        237,620.00   332,625,428.50 1400.00
FBNH   31,934,748.00   229,789,381.55 7.20
ZENITHBANK     9,387,334.00   226,733,546.60 24.40
UBA   24,092,641.00   200,213,240.15 8.20

Google launches People Cards to help Africans who want to be found on Google Search

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1 December 2020Google today introduced a new mobile-only feature that makes people more discoverable on Google Search. People Cards allow people to create their presence on Search in the form of a card (similar to a Google Search Knowledge Panel) that includes all the details they want other people to have about them.

“For many people,“ says Olumide Balogun, Head of Consumer Apps, Sub Saharan Africa at Google, “whether they’re content creators, business professionals, or just wanting to stand out from the crowd — having an online presence is important.

Google launches People Cards to help Africans who want to be found on Google Search

“For those without a formal website, or for people who share a name with many others, this is an easy way to create or distinguish their presence on Search,” he adds. “Google’s mission has always been to organise information and make it useful and accessible, and we’re now providing a new way – for people who want to be found – to organise information about themselves, right on Search, on their mobile phones.”

Anyone with a Google Account can create a People Card by simply searching for their name and tapping the “add me to Search” prompt. This will lead them through a simple process to add a photo, description, links to social profiles and other information that they’d like others to know about them.

For the initial card creation, a unique phone number is required. One profile card is allowed per Google account and phone number. Additionally, people can report abusive content and impersonation claims through a feedback link directly from the product.

“In the last few years, we have been working with people across the region to better understand how Africans see Search and how we can make it more relevant and work better for the people on the continent. We built this feature for the millions of influencers, content creators, entrepreneurs, self-employed individuals, freelancers, or anyone else out there who wants to be discovered,” Olumide continues.

Google has recently introduced several locally relevant features within Search. Job Search Experience, for example, helps people find jobs through Search, while Health Symptom Search makes it easier for users to explore health conditions related to symptoms. Google has also introduced other features that make it easy to find information on everyday interests like Sports, Recipe, Movies, and Lyrics.

“A critical part of creating for Africa means building in line with the insights we are seeing from the region. We see that people in Africa want a search tool that reflects their real environment and also supports them to succeed as they go about their everyday hustle which is why the People Card creator is in full control of their information at all times; they choose what they would like to make public and if they would like to remove it,” he concludes.

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

P&G, Safeguard® partners with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Water Resources to extend its global handwashing day campaign

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…donates handwashing stations to schools, primary health centres and markets 

Abuja, Nigeria: November 2020: Leading consumer goods company, Procter & Gamble (P&G), has partnered with the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to promote handwashing in the country and celebrate this year’s Global Handwashing Day.

P&G, Safeguard® partners with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Water Resources to extend its global handwashing day campaign

In line with these partnerships, P&G donated Safeguard® contactless handwashing stations to the ministries. These donations were announced at the headquarters of both ministries in Abuja. 

These partnerships key into the 2020 Global Handwashing Day theme of ‘Hand Hygiene for All’ and P&G’s commitment to making everyday life better and safe for consumers. Through this partnership, P&G through the Ministry of Environment will install Safeguard® contactless handwashing stations in all unity schools in Abuja. In addition, through the Ministry of Water Resources, P&G will install other Safeguard® handwashing stations in selected primary health centres and markets.

P&G, Safeguard® partners with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Water Resources to extend its global handwashing day campaign Brandspurng1

Speaking on this initiative, the P&G Senior Director for Africa, Global Government Relations and Public Policy, Dr. Mrs Temitope Iluyemi said,

“We are honoured to partner with the Ministries of Water Resources and Environment as we extend our handwashing campaign to more regions and also in commemoration of this year’s global handwashing day.”

“Now more than ever, continuous education of the citizens on the importance of handwashing is critical to promoting hygiene practices and reinforcing it as the frontline defence for citizens against the spread of infections like COVID-19.”.

Commenting on the importance of enterprising partnerships during his media briefing address, the Honorable Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu stated

“We understand that the outbreak of COVID-19 has reawakened consciousness of handwashing practices and it is important that we maximize this opportunity and ensure the sustainability of these infrastructures and behaviour, to achieve hand hygiene for all. P&G is one of the frontline companies supporting Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and our partnership with them is in line with our Ministry’s P-WASH action plan.”

In addition, the Honorable Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, thanked P&G for the donation and added that

“This partnership is coming at such an important time of school resumption. These handwashing stations will go a long way towards promoting handwashing amongst students in the unity schools in Abuja.” 

Procter & Gamble stepped up as a force for good by committing over 100 million Naira worth of a humanitarian package to support the government in combating COVID-19. This intervention included hygiene products, handwashing stations, and personal protective equipment for frontline healthcare workers in all 36 states and the FCT.

As part of this contribution, P&G also launched a nationwide media awareness campaign to promote handwashing amongst Nigerians.

For over 25 years in Nigeria, Procter & Gamble, producer of notable brands like Always®, Ariel®, Pampers®, Gillette®, Oral B® and Safeguard®, has been an active investor in Nigeria, creating over 4,000 jobs through its manufacturing operations in Ibadan and Lagos.

P&G’s Children Safe Drinking Water program (CSDW) has provided hundreds of million litres of safe drinking water in Nigeria helping to prevent possible death and disease from contaminated water while its Always/UNESCO program is empowering over 110,000 Nigerian girls and women with basic literacy and skills development through ICT.

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. 

Kia Unveils Two Rugged X-Line Sorento Concepts Built for the Wild

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Aggressive Custom SUVs Signal Brand’s Focus on Adventure, Capability and Trail Readiness

2021 Sorento - Yosemite
Sorento Yosemite Edition
Sorento Yosemite Edition aims at exploring high-elevation locales and mountain living | www.brandspurng.com

November 20, 2020 – Since the arrival of the award-winning Telluride last year and the head-turning Seltos in early 2020, Kia Motors America (KMA) has had its sights on building a robust and reimagined SUV line-up. As the next step in this capability-focused product strategy, the all-new 2021 Sorento is poised to bring customers a new level of trail-ready toughness not yet seen from the brand.

2021 Sorento - Yosemite
Sorento Zion Edition
Sorento Zion Edition is a dune-defeating desert escape vehicle | www.brandspurng.com

To celebrate this rugged personality, KMA unveiled a pair of custom-built Sorento SUVs – the Yosemite Edition and the Zion Edition – during the brand’s virtual national dealer meeting this week.

The two wilderness-themed SUVs build upon the production Sorento X-Line model, a variant that highlights off-road prowess with unique 20-inch wheels, increased ride height to 8.3-in., improved approach/departure angles, more advanced AWD with snow-mode, and a more robust roof rack than the outgoing Sorento.

2021 Sorento - Yosemite
2021 Sorento – Zion

Customized by LGE-CTS Motorsports of San Dimas, CA, each vehicle receives its namesake and inspiration from the outdoor environments found in America’s great national parks.

The Sorento Yosemite Edition is a dream build for high elevation adventuring and mountain living, painted in “Pine Green” in a matte finish with glossy and matte black accents.  The Sorento Zion Edition is a desert escape vehicle made for stomping dunes, painted in “Desert Sand” in a gloss finish with gloss black accents.

2021 Sorento - Yosemite
2021 Sorento – Zion

Both feature custom fender flares that sit atop 20-inch wheels and 32-inch all-terrain tires. Body armour includes custom skid plates and brush guards in a satin chrome finish.  For packing gear, the Yosemite edition wears a brawny roof rack, while the Zion Edition comes equipped with a full-length cargo top.  The duo will be making special appearances around the country to capture the imagination of adventurers and enthusiasts, alike.

2021 Sorento - Yosemite
2021 Sorento – Yosemite

While most customers will not take their Sorento to the level of customization seen on the Yosemite and Zion Editions, many have shown a penchant for personalizing their Kia SUVs.  To satisfy that desire, Kia will offer an exciting range of port-installed and dealer-installed accessories.

Customers can tailor their Sorento to their lifestyle and needs with attachments such as roof rack crossbars, tow hitches for trailers, and side steps for easier load-in of toys.

The 2021 Kia Sorento will arrive in showrooms beginning in November.

Telluride Names a Car and Driver 10Best for 2021

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Kia’s Popular SUV Earns Spot on List for Second Consecutive Year

  • Telluride maintains its lustre among a field of new competitors for 2021

  • Style, performance and value continue to impress expert judges

November 19, 2020 – The Telluride has been named to Car and Driver’s 10Best list for 2021, marking the second year in a row the big and bold SUV has earned a spot among the esteemed group of vehicles. The highly regarded awards recognize the smartest, most entertaining cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans on sale today.

Telluride Names a Car and Driver 10Best for 2021

“We’re excited to include the Kia Telluride in Car and Driver’s 10Best for the second year in a row,” said Sharon Carty, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver. “We remain impressed with how many features you get for Telluride’s base price of $33,160, that it is a pleasure to drive and even how adept it is off-road. We find ourselves recommending the Telluride over and over to friends shopping for large SUVs, which is a sign of how much we like it.”

Telluride Names a Car and Driver 10Best for 2021
2020 Telluride

The Telluride competed against 57 other vehicles—cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans—to earn its spot on the list of ten vehicles. Experts at the renowned automotive publication judged competitors based on value, mission fulfilment, and road manners. The field included all-new or significantly updated vehicles with a base price below $90,000, along with last year’s winners.

Telluride Names a Car and Driver 10Best for 2021
2020 Telluride

“This award is a badge of honour we wear with pride,” said Sean Yoon, president and CEO, Kia Motors America. “It is tremendously rewarding to know the industry’s most keen-eyed experts recognize the high level of craftsmanship and engineering we invested in the Telluride. We look forward to being a mainstay on this list for years to come.”

2020 Telluride
2020 Telluride

For 2021, the Telluride received minor enhancements along with a special appearance package, the Nightfall Edition.

Headquartered in Irvine, California, Kia Motors America continues to top quality surveys and is recognized as one of the 100 Best Global Brands. Kia serves as the “Official Automotive Partner” of the NBA and offers a complete range of vehicles sold through a network of nearly 750 dealers in the U.S., including cars and SUVs proudly assembled in West Point, Georgia.