Imagine the advertisement: “Wanted: CEO for national motor distributor. Must be able to cook!”
Okay, so that wasn’t really a requirement for the job, but Ray Levin, CEO of Kia Motors South Africa, really is a fully qualified chef.
“I got involved in the hospitality industry because that’s where my parents were — they owned the Oribi hotel in Kensington. After I finished my schooling at Damelin College I went to the hotel school in Johannesburg to learn how to be a chef and an hotel manager.”
After three years studying Levin stayed in the hospitality game for just one year before moving on to sell motor cars.
“I think it was my time in the army that put me off catering,” he chuckles. “I was sent to the South African Defence Force Services School and given the task of teaching conscripts how to be chefs. Cooking meals for 3 000 reluctant guests at a time killed my passion.”
Levin reckons that there’s a huge divide between his previous career and the one he pursues now.
“The hospitality game doesn’t teach you anything about the wheeling and dealing that makes up the motor industry in particular and life in general. I also used to get upset seeing people drink so much,” says the near teetotaller.
Levin started selling cars with Torque Leyland before moving onwards and upwards with Dan Perkins, where he ended up running Toyota Wynberg. Then McCarthy Motor Holdings placed him in charge of their Ford and Mazda operations in Gauteng.
He moved on after a difference of opinion with Ford top management, who he says expected cars to be virtually given away in the quest for increased sales volumes.
“I went on from there to represent a Zambian company called Infinite Motors, who imported Asia buses from Korea,” he says.
“Asia owned Kia Motor Corporation, and my mandate was to get the South African Kia franchise for Infinite as well, but that didn’t work out,” says Levin.
Asia didn’t fancy the idea of working with Infinite very much, but offered Levin the franchise in his personal capacity.
“The deal went through on the first of November 1997, and the Kia Motor Corporation in Korea went into liquidation straight afterwards!”
Still, the Korean company was soon picked up, dusted off and sent back into the trenches.
“I started marketing Kia in January 1998 with just three models — the Pride, the Sportage, and a pickup called the Ceres. We went from strength to strength, and on April 1 1998, after just six months with Kia, I signed a deal for Imperial Holdings’s AMH Group to take over the Kia franchise, with me staying on at the helm.”
Surely that was a tough decision to make — to give up your new-born baby?
“I have absolutely no regrets,” says Levin. “We needed huge money behind us to make this thing work, to set up dealerships and pay for a reasonable spares stock.
“All I can say is that the six years we’ve been together have been an incredible journey and a dream come true. It’s been a real adventure putting our product on the map in South Africa in the current competitive market. Today we have more than 20 000 Kias on the road in South Africa, with another 800 to 1 000 joining them every month. We’ve turned the corner.”
What about the cooking? Does Levin still take his turn in the kitchen? “Nah, I’m too old for that,” he chuckles.
“I used to do a mean Beef Wellington though — I specialised in meat dishes. But my favourite snack was a fresh bread roll, filled with fresh chips, a dab of butter and a clove of fresh garlic, accompanied by a litre of milk!”