Kia Executive Steps Down

Dick Macedo has resigned as executive vice president of marketing and sales at Irvine-based Kia Motors America. The importer and distributor of Korean-made Kia cars and sport-utility vehicles has not selected a replacement, company officials said.

Kia’s U.S. sales have almost doubled, to 160,600 units last year, since Macedo, 60, became the company’s No. 2 executive in 1998. March, with 19,159 cars and SUVs sold, was Kia’s best month in the U.S., said spokesman Geno Effler.

A longtime advertising executive, Macedo was president of Wells, Rich, Green BDDP/West in Los Angeles when he was recruited as Kia’s first marketing director in June 1993, almost a year before the company began selling cars in the U.S. He replaced Greg Warner as head of sales and marketing and Kia’s No. 2 executive after Warner’s death in 1998.

Macedo said he decided to retire to pursue other interests and have more time with his family.

Byung Mo Ahn, president of Kia Motors America, will assume Macedo’s role until a replacement is selected.