Kia

As South Korea’s second-largest automobile manufacturer, Kia Motor Corp. was founded in December 1944 as Kyungsung Precision Industry before changing its name to Kia Industries in 1952.

In 2015, Kia sold more than 3.3 million vehicles and is a part of the Hyundai Motor Group. The name “Kia” is based on Sino-Korean characters which roughly translates to “rising out of (East) Asia.”

Currently headquartered in Seoul, Kia originally manufactured steel tubing and bicycle parts before opening its first car assembly plant in 1973. After eight years of producing vehicles, Kia was forced to shut down in 1981 when the South Korean government enforced consolidation within the automobile industry. In 1986, Kia partnered with Ford and rejoined the industry.

Kia entered the U.S. markets in 1992 and Kia vehicles were first sold in Portland, Oregon in 1994. By 1995, more than 24,700 Kia automobiles were sold in the United States with more than 100 Kia dealerships in 30 states. Today, Kia has more than 750 dealers throughout the United States.

Another subsidiary, the Kia Motors Europe is located in Frankfurt, Germany and has a R&D center in Russelsheim, Germany. Since the early 1990s, Kia was exporting mini cars to Europe, such as the Pride and Rio models. This grew to exporting medium-sized sedans, hatchbacks and sportage SUVs in the late 1990s to mid 2000s.

Today, Kia is a fast growing brand in Europe and a focal point for the company.

Popular Kia car models include: Rio, Optima, Soul, Sportage and Sorento. In addition, Kia is the sole manufacturer of South Korean military vehicles and specializes in other transportation equipment.

To keep the brand moving forward, Kia created a global network of design studios to help give their products a more distinct identity from their regional competitors. Peter Schreyer was hired by Kia in 2006 as an automobile designer and created a new Kia grille called “Tiger Nose” for vehicles to adapt.

This move helped Kia create a recognizable feature and identifier for the brand.

In 2010, the first Kia North American manufacturing site was opened in West Point, Georgia. Kia has plants in China, Mexico, Slovakia and Vietnam. Moreover, Kia automobiles are built on assembly lines that are flexible enough to produce different models at the same time to adapt to current international buying trends.

Kia sponsors some of the world’s biggest sports associations including: Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Union of European Football Association (UEFA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Kia is also the major sponsor of the Grand Slam tennis tournament, the Australian Open and provides tennis players, VIPs and officials rides to and from the event.