Picanto Club in Indonesia

[Kiaclub Nieuwsrobot]

We’ve got a special message from an Indonesian Kia Picanto enthusiast named Arwan who started his own customer community, which gathers Picanto drivers from all walks of life to participate in and enjoy a variety of on- and off-line social community events. His Picanto club piqued our curiosity because it’s not managed by Kia whatsoever and is 100% customer driven, so we asked Arwan to share how this all got started and posted his comments and photos.

 

Hello Kia BUZZ fans,

 

My name is Arwan from Indonesia and I’d like to talk to you about our community called “Picanto Club Indonesia”.

 

Our community first started with Kia Picanto owners in 2004 via mailing lists, online instant messaging, Facebook and most recently through our official website, which launched in 2012 (www.picanto-indonesia.com).

 

There are approximately 1,500 participants on our mailing list and 400 of them are premium members. Premium members have their own identity numbers with additional benefits as a community member.

 

Our members come from all over Indonesia, and some of them are from other countries such as Australia, Malaysia, Kuwait, UAE, Laos and more.

 

As community members, we have online discussions about the Kia Picanto, and there are also offline events such as community gatherings, joint activities with Kia Motors in Indonesia (Kia Mobil Indonesia) and other related groups.

Six months ago there was a big event held in November 2012, which was a 1,000 km journey from Jakarta to Semarang. There were approximately 50 Kia Picantos and over 120 people participating.

Questions to Arwan from Kia-Buzz

What motivated you to first start and organize this community?

The Indonesian car market is flooded with Japanese brands, so we didn’t have much to compare them against and assumed they were good quality. When the Kia Picanto first debuted here in 2004, people started to notice its advantages over other brands, but it was too early to tell since there was a lack of objective information such as customer reviews in Indonesia causing many to have their doubts.

 

I decided to post an online discussion asking Picanto owners why they purchased it. And it turned out that most of us were basing our decisions on good reviews we read on European automotive news websites. That gave us the initial confidence in its quality, and the reviews proved to be true after purchasing it ourselves because we were happy with its overall performance.

 

We then wanted to bring other Indonesian customers together, so we can help each other organize and objectively share information about the Picanto, including its plus and minus points – this later evolved into actual meet-ups and special events for our members.

 

What do personally like about the Picanto?

 

- Its features and value are a lot better when compared to similar vehicles in Indonesia

 

- It has very good stability at high speeds

 

- Nice exterior design, which keeps getting better with newer models, especially in the ‘tiger-nose’ grille era

 

- Good fuel efficiency

 

- Roomy cabin - it’s small outside, but big inside.

Kia Customer Communities

We here at Kia-Buzz are very impressed by the passion of this community, and we hope it inspires others to join or create one of their own. In fact, soon we’ll be sharing another story about a community called “StreetKiaz” founded by an American Kia customer named Mark Ingalls. His community brings together street tuning enthusiasts who are passionate about customizing their Kia’s for both performance and style.

What do you think?

Are you a member of a Kia club in your country? Tell us about it!

Learn More

• Picanto Club Indonesia Official Site
• The Kia Picanto Then and Now – A Design Transformation (Kia Buzz)

 

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