20 facts you might not know about Kia

Few companies can boast a pace of development comparable to Korea's Kia Motors. Just a quarter of a century ago, the company was a third-class manufacturer of budget and compromise vehicles. Today it is one of the global players in the automotive sector, ranked among the 4 manufacturers in the world, and creates everything from compact city models to sports coupes and heavy SUVs. And also many other things that usually remain outside our field of vision.

1. The company was founded as a bicycle manufacturer.

The company was founded in 1944, 23 years before its older brother Hyundai, under the name Kyungsung Precision Industry. But it will be decades before it starts making cars - first bicycle components, then complete bicycles, then motorcycles.

2. The name is difficult to translate

The name Kia was adopted a few years after the company was founded, but due to the peculiarities of the Korean language and the many possible meanings, it is difficult to translate. Most often it is interpreted as “ascending from Asia” or “ascending from the East”.

3. The first car appeared in 1974

In the early 1970s, Kia took advantage of government programs to develop the industry and built an automobile plant. His first model, the Brisa B-1000, was a pickup truck based almost entirely on the Mazda Familia. Later, a passenger version appeared - Brisa S-1000. It is equipped with a 62 horsepower liter Mazda engine.

4. He was the victim of a military coup

In October 1979, President Park Chung Hee was assassinated by his intelligence chief. On December 12, Army General Chon Doo Huang staged a military coup and seized power. As a result, all industrial enterprises are required to re-equip for military production, including Kia. The company was forced to completely stop producing cars.

5. Ford saved her

After the stabilization of the military coup, Kia was allowed to return to "civilian" production, but the company did not have any technical developments or patents. The situation was saved by a licensing agreement with Ford, which allowed Koreans to produce a compact Ford Festiva called the Kia Pride.

6. Record a few service promotions

The Korean company holds the record for the smallest declared share of services in the mass segment and is generally second only to the German premium brands Mercedes and Porsche in this indicator (according to iSeeCars).

7. She has received many awards

Koreans have many awards, although they are more from North America than from Europe. Tellur's new big crossover recently won a Grand Slam, all three of the most prestigious awards in the United States. Never before has any SUV model been able to do this.

8. Pope Francis approves of him

Pope Francis is known for his drive for modest cars. In his recent travels, the head of the Roman Catholic Church most often chooses the Kia Soul for this purpose.

9. Kia still produces military equipment

The militaristic past has not yet been completely erased: Kia is a supplier to the South Korean army and produces a variety of military equipment, from armored personnel carriers to trucks.

10. Focus on Europe

In an effort not to compete with each other, Kia and its sister Hyundai divided the world into "zones of influence," and Europe moved to the smaller of the two companies. Prior to Kovid-19, Kia Panic was the only company to show 9 years of continuous growth in Europe.

11. Where did the name CEE'D come from?

In confirmation of the previous statement, CEE'D is a compact hatchback designed specifically for the European market and produced at the company's plant in Zilina, Slovakia. Even its name, European, is short for European Community, European Design.

12. The German transformed the company

Kia's real resurgence, turning it into an equal player of the world's largest manufacturers, came after 2006, when the management brought in German Peter Schreier from Audi as chief designer. Today Schreier is President of Design for the entire Hyundai-Kia Group.

13. Kia is a sports sponsor

Koreans are the main sponsors of some of the most popular sporting events in the world such as the World Championship or the NBA Championship. Their advertising faces are basketball player LeBron James and tennis player Rafael Nadal.

14. Changed your logo

The familiar red elliptical emblem appeared in the 90s, but this year Kia has a new logo, without the ellipse and with a more specific font.

15. Korea has a different emblem

The red oval logo is unknown to Korean Kia buyers. There, the company uses a different ellipse with a stylized silver "K" with or without a blue background. In fact, this logo is loved all over the world because it is widely ordered by sites like Amazon and Alibaba.

The emblem of the Stinger sports model in Korea is stylized as the letter E - no one knows exactly why.

16. Not always owned by Hyundai

Kia was an independent manufacturer until 1998. A year earlier, the great Asian financial crisis had brought down the company's major markets and brought it to the brink of bankruptcy, and Hyundai had saved it.

17. The first company to launch production in Russia

Of course, not the first company, but the first "western" one. In 1996, the Koreans organized the production of their models at Avtotor in Kaluga, which was a prophetic move, because just a few years later, the government in Moscow imposed strict import duties, and all other manufacturers were forced to follow Kia's lead.

18. Its largest plant produces 2 cars per minute.

Kia's largest factory is located in Huason, near Seoul. Spread across 476 football stadiums, it produces 2 cars every minute. However, it is smaller than Hyundai's Ulsan plant - the world's largest - where five new cars roll off the assembly line every minute.

19. Create a car for the X-Men

Koreans have always had a keen interest in Hollywood blockbusters and have released a special limited edition dedicated to high-profile films. The most interesting were the variations of Sportage and Sorento, created for the premiere of X-Men Apocalypse in 2015.

20. Record for the number of screens in the car

In 2019, the Koreans unveiled a very interesting prototype at CES in Las Vegas and at the Geneva Motor Show. With the interior of the future, it had up to 21 screens on the front, with the dimensions and proportions of smartphones. Many have interpreted this as a harmless parody of the growing fascination with large screens in cars, but we will likely see parts of this decision in future production models.