Kia. The power to surprise
Kia Motors Corporation is the oldest South Korean automotive company established in 1944. First, it was engaged in the production of bicycles and motorcycles, making them manually. The name KIA means ‘Asia rises in the whole world’ or, to be more exact, ‘Rise in the world from Asia’. And they really did! Today the KIA brand costs about $5.4B. A couple of years ago, Kia Motors celebrated the release of its 10 millionth car. Today, products with KIA logos are sold in 170 countries of the world. The amount of sales of just one model, but the most popular one, KIA Rio, is almost 500K (As of 2011-2019).
At the same time, Kia brand ceased to be independent, and now the company belongs to the Hyundai Motor Group. As it always happens, after the next crisis, KIA’s debts raised to 5.7 billion dollars, the company had losses and was sold to the highest bidder. Many companies wanted to acquire Kia: Samsung, Daewoo Motor, and even Ford Motor. But the Korean Hyundai overbids everyone. This way Hyundai took over Kia. Hyundai-KIA Automotive Group is the world’s fifth-largest automaker, producing over 1.4 million cars a year! The Korean automotive giant sells in 172 countries and has over 17 billion US dollars of annual income (as of 2011-2019).
Hyundai-KIA Automotive Group is the world’s fifth largest automaker, producing over 1.4 million cars a year!
All Kia models are now built on Hyundai platforms, and, moreover, a model under the Hyundai brand always enters the market, and after that a model under the Kia brand is released on the same platform. But, at the same time, KIA only won. In just 3 years, annual sales of Kia worldwide have increased by more than 80% and reached almost 2.5 million cars per year. In 2007, the English Transport Management Institute named KIA the largest carmaker of the year.
The origin of the name
The power to surprise… And they, after all, really try to surprise us! ‘The Power to Surprise’ is the official slogan of the largest car manufacturer in Korea, KIA Motors. Kia Motors Corporation is the oldest South-Korean automotive company, which was founded in 1944. The name KIA means ‘Asia rises in the whole world’ or more precisely - ‘Rise in the world from Asia’. Founded just before the beginning of the war between North and South Korea, KyungSung Precision Industry was engaged in the production of bicycles and motorcycles, making them manually… Yes… just like this :) At the same time, the company name mentions ‘precision industry’:) You can imagine the technological level of a country where using primitive methods of work to produce bicycle parts is called precision engineering. Korea at that time was one of the poorest Asian countries, so ordinary bicycle production was a real technological breakthrough. By the way, KIA got its name from one of its bicycles.
But, unlike the first years of the company business, in the 1970s it began to produce trucks and cars, and already in 1988, the millionth car rolled off the assembly line. In 1990, the company changed its name to become KIA Motors Inc. and begin its conquest of the world’s automotive market.
Public favorites
Customers are especially fond of the baby Rio, which, by the way, won the world championship in ice racing. It is built on the same platform as Hyundai Solaris and Hyundai i20. This car became the best-selling car in Russia in 2011, got ahead of LADA Granta and Hyundai Solaris. In the same segment of ‘subcompacts’ the Kia Vista and the Pride veteran have shown themselves well.
The name KIA means ‘Asia rises in the whole world’ or, to be more exact, ‘Rise in the world from Asia’.
The ‘golf class’ is the most popular segment of the market which is represented by the Cerato (Spectra) sedan, which, among other things, had won the Journalism Association of Canada award. Even in the ‘business class’, Kia Motors offers quite respectable sedans Opirus and Magentis (which is sold in the USA under the Optima brand name), the main trump card of these cars is the optimal ratio of price and quality. Kia SUVs - the elegant Sorento and the compact Sportage - are also a hit with buyers. Comfortable minivan KIA Carnival attracts those who love family vacations.
By the way, the recognizable ‘Tiger Nose’ grille in the shape of a ‘tiger’s grin’ appeared on KIA models in 2006 thanks to designer Peter Schreier, who previously worked with Audi and Volkswagen. In 2012, Kia got the first luxury car, which was really successful with buyers - the rear-wheel drive sedan Quoris (in Korea - KIA K9). It is built on the same platform as the Hyundai Equus, but they differ from each other: Quoris has a larger wheelbase, shorter overhang and an aggressive design.
And today many experts call Kia Motors Corporation the first Korean carmaker that keeps surprising us.
