Executives from dealer groups and OEMs have applauded the return of Simon Hetherington to Kia UK after almost a year spent battling cancer.
The company’s commercial director since 2016, Hetherington posted on LinkedIn last week that it was “great to be at Kia UK today for the first time since July 2023” after rounds of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a stem cell transplant which followed his being diagnosed with lymphoma.
He joined his Kia leadership team colleagues Paul Philpott and Steve Hicks for a photo outside the Kia UK headquarters and wrote on LinkedIn that he has “a thousand reasons to be thankful!”.
A spokesman for Kia told AM that he will undertake a phased return to work as Kia UK continues to support him with his recovery.
Hetherington has been at Kia UK since 2007 and is both well known and highly respected by its franchised dealers. Among the numerous industry leaders to welcome his return were AM100 dealer group bosses Darren Ardon of Perrys, Adam Turner of Chorley Group, Mark Busby of Hendy Group and Dougal Keith of DM Keith.
“I’m hugely grateful for the amazing medical teams at St George’s Hospital, Parkside Hospital and Cancer Centre London who have cared for me and quite literally saved my life,” said Hetherington.
“My family and friends have been immense throughout these challenging times.
“Today I would like to thank my friends and colleagues at Kia and across the dealer network for your support and encouragement, and for welcoming me back. It was great to see some of you today, and I’m looking forward to catching up with you all as I continue my recovery and return.”
Hetherington has been a regular face at the annual AM Awards in recent years, where he has been on stage often collecting trophies for the Kia Sportage’s Used Car of the Year award win.
AM’s editor Tim Rose says: “We’re so pleased at AM to see that Simon is on well the road to recovery. I wish him good health and look forward to inviting him as our special guest again to the AM Awards in future.”