Forget worms; sometimes the early bird gets a lot more. If he’s a Kia Cerato buyer, that is
 
SINGAPORE — Kia prides itself on building cars with mass appeal, and went one further today with a mass delivery.
80 Kia Cerato buyers collected the keys to their new car today, at a delivery ceremony arranged by Cycle & Carriage Kia, the Korean brand’s importer. The company handed the new cars over at a party-like event at Marina Bay Sands, complete with food and drinks.
The 80 buyers were the earliest in town to put money down for the new Cerato, a mid-sized saloon which is sold here with a 1.6-litre engine and six-speed transmission. It’s one of, if not the Korean company’s most successful model in Singapore, with over 13,000 hitting our roads since 2009.

Three versions of the car cost between S$75,999 with Certificate Of Entitlement to S$91,999, depending on equipment level.
But a great price isn’t the only reason the car is so popular – even without a prior official launch event. “This new Cerato marks a turning point for Kia in Singapore,” said Eric Chan (below), the managing director of Cycle & Carriage Singapore, “With so many customers ordering the car even before experiencing it first hand, it’s a testament to how much faith Singaporeans have in the brand, so we felt an event like this was a good way to celebrate and repay their faith.”

Mass deliveries are a relatively rare practice by the car trade, but are often used to reward early customers for their enthusiasm, or to celebrate the sales success of a key new model.
In January, Volkswagen Group Singapore launched the Arteon, its current flagship car, by revealing it to the press on the same night as a party for early-bird buyers.
On a bigger scale, the first 23 buyers of the Porsche Macan collected their cars in front of more than 1,000 people at a lavish launch ceremony for the sporty Sport Utility Vehicle in July, 2014.

Tonight’s handover by Cycle & Carriage officiates the launch of the car in Singapore, and between the 80 buyers, their families and Kia’s industry partners, around 300 people turned up to ring in the new Cerato. It was a closed door event however, but that doesn’t mean you have to be left out; check our our review here. The Cerato may be a car with mass appeal, but that doesn’t mean its early buyers couldn’t receive a bit of VIP treatment.