The history of the young brand Kia. From bicycles to the leaders of the global automotive industry

KIA became known to the world not so long ago. Cars appeared on the market only in 1992, and 20 years later the company became the seventh most popular car manufacturer. The history of the brand is detailed below.

Foundation

The company started operating in May 1944 with the registered name “KyungSung Precision Industry” (rough translation: precision industry). The slogan sounded and still sounds simple: “The art of surprise.” The company at the beginning of its career was not engaged in cars at all, but in bicycles and motorcycles. And hand assembled. Now combined with other brands, the brand occupies the fifth position in the world market.

Ten years later, in the 1950s, the company changed its name to its current name, KIA Industries. And after another decade, the company legalizes the production of motorcycles with the name Honda C100. In 1958-1959, the production of three-wheeled motorcycles began, their development and high sales made it possible to create the first car of its own brand.

In the 1970s, the first car was produced. From the locals, the car acquired the status of “people’s” – it became the first car bought more than a million times. The equipment was large, full-size. A decade later, KIA is releasing a new compact size model. In the early eighties, the company was subjected to a severe financial crisis. At this time, the company created the Pride model with a bet on the low price of the car – $ 7,500. In 1987, the company goes abroad and sells part of the machines in Canada, and then in the USA.

And then the 1990s come. In a good way. Large-scale production began in 1992 of the Sephia series cars – it was completely “drawn”, created within the company. At the end of the millennium, the brand joins the Hyundai Motor Group.

For about 10 years, KIA produced the created cars in large quantities, without visible changes and global innovations. Everything changed in 2006 with the arrival of Peter Schreyer. This is a car stylist, designer, leader of transformations in the automotive industry. A lot of money has been invested in the development of new models of machines and their entry into the foreign market. After that, a machine specially designed for Western audiences was shown. The first models of KIA Sauce received an award for high-quality and modern design of equipment. The name of the award is the Red Dot Design Award.

In 2009, KIA Motors Rus was created, and the supply of cars to Russia was also adjusted. A year later, a factory in the USA was opened – this is how the anniversary of the sale of cars was marked: 15 years. In 2017, the first Beat360 center opens. It allows buyers to get acquainted with the goals, objectives of the brand, ideals, new models of the company and drink delicious coffee.

Emblem

The modern emblem is simple: it shows and denotes the name of the company – KIA. But there is a feature. The letter “A” is indicated without a horizontal line. No prehistory is given to this – this is how the designer created it and that’s it. The Kia logo is most often depicted in either silver letters on a black background or red letters on a white background. On machines – the first option, in the documentation, on the official website – the second option.

The company has two corporate colors: red, white. Until the 1990s, there was no official assignment of colors to KIA, and after that it appeared and was patented by the brand. The white color is associated with the buyer with purity and trust, and red stands for the constant development of the brand. The slogan “The Art of Surprising” complements the red color and forms a general picture of KIA for the client.