IRVINE, Calif. -

It has come full circle for Brad Beer. The first foray into the car business for this son of a General Motors dealer was a job reconditioning used cars at age 14.

And now, some three-and-a-half decades later, Beer has returned to the used-car side of the industry, leading certified pre-owned at Kia Motors America.

The company made the announcement last week, revealing that Beer was appointed to the newly created role of national manager of CPO.

Beer has been with Kia since 2010, and his journey in the auto industry has taken him to positions here in the U.S. with companies like Nissan, Saab and Mercedes-Benz, mostly the field and regional office variety.

But his roots in the used-car business go back much further, to when Beer was fixing up used cars as a teenager in northern Indiana.

“I was doing all that before I had a driver’s license,” he said.

And he’s not the only one in the Beer family with deep roots in the business. His father, Bernie Beer, has spent his entire career with McCormick Motors in Nappanee, Ind.

He started with the dealership as a salesperson in the early 1960s, before Brad was even born; these days, Bernie, 72, is the majority owner.

“He’s the picture of perseverance,” Brad said of his father.

Goals for Kia CPO

As he gets his tenure rolling, Beer believes tremendous growth may be ahead for Kia’s certified program. 

The off-lease portfolio is expected to hit 22,000 units in 2013 before doubling in 2014 and then hitting 47,000 units in 2015, he said.

If everything is properly executed, that could help Kia CPO “grow significantly,” according to Beer, whose big priority is to push dealer engagement. He is paying special attention to making dealer engagement progress in the New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco markets.

“From my side, my key challenge for the upcoming year is dealer engagement,” Beer said. “That will be my focus going forward.”

Kia has certainly seen some growth on the sales end of its CPO operation this year. The company recently had its best certified month of all time, moving 2,026 CPO units in October. That broke the previous record of 1,824 CPO sales, which was set in August. 

Kia then sold 2,001 CPO units in November, which was a 65.1-percent year-over-year improvement.

So far this year, it has sold 18,047 certified units, which is up about 106 percent from the same time frame of 2011. 
Beer attributes Kia’s growth in the CPO market to the brand’s overall evolution, its improvements and its design transformation.

With strong residuals in place, Beer said, the “logical evolution” is the CPO push.

And based on the year Kia has had in 2012, it appears the future may hold even more potential.