It doesn't seem particularly evil. Is there a better word for "Dilbert-esque but on a massive scale"?
I think the funniest part is that they were completely transparent about why they were doing it. Good for them, honestly! But I can't imagine Kia HQ will be pleased to know why. Maybe they wanted HQ to know, as a desperate measure of protest against bad budgeting policy...
It's pretty evil from perspective of the customer, is it not? And they were empathically not transparent to the customer!
If I put a deposit on my car, and you're keeping it from me for a weird financial scheme, And you instruct hundreds of your reps how exactly to lie to me about it... The only reason it wouldn't be called evil is that's its becoming the norm - and I'll put forward it isn't a good enough reason. :(
Yet another reason I'd never buy a Kia. They really aren't even cheap anymore to be able to justify the reduced quality.
Fun fact - we have a Rohde and Schwarz spectrum analyzer (awesome tool, model FSH6) at work and my boss told me they called it the "two Kia tool" when they got it because brand new it cost the same as two Kia cars.
The kia rio is the 2nd cheapest car in Canada by far. The first cheapest is 3 cylinder for like a hundred less, while rio is a full car with an impressive range of amenities. Basically nobody else wants to sell me a basic cheap hatchback - Ford doesn't do fiesta anymore, Mazda killed the 2, Honda dropped the fit, Nissan doesn't do the micra anymore etc. In Canada at least, it's all suvs and pickups :-(
Quality, up for discussion, but it's definitely the only manufacturer in Canada who sells a basic nice cheap car.
Not only did somebody review and approve it...
But they broadcast the details of it to hundreds of employees and dealers via online meeting.
I couldn't believe it but cbc actually saw the video and you can catch a glimpse of it [1].
Thays just... Brazen? Insidious? Evil? Stupid? All of the above?
1: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2293332035648