Kia incorporates EVs and sustainability

Kia Motors Corporation becomes just Kia Corporation and seven new EVs by 2027 are among brand strategy and future ambitions revealed by the company.

‘Plan S’ will create sustainable mobility solutions for customers while Kia’s first dedicated battery electric vehicle (BEV) – with more than 500km range and under 20 minutes high-speed charging – and new design philosophy will be revealed early this year, it says.

Kia is also turning to recyclable materials and renewable energy for more sustainable manufacturing and will diversify its business to offer eco-friendly mobility services, centred on electric and autonomous driving across major global cities.

The changes are supported by a new brand slogan ‘Movement that inspires’ as Kia signals a break away from its traditional manufacturing-driven business model.

Kia says it will expand into new and emerging business areas by creating innovative mobility products and services to improve customers’ daily lives.

It is focused on popularising BEVs and its seven new models will include a range of passenger vehicles, SUVs and MPVs across several segments, each incorporating industry-leading technology for long-range driving and high-speed charging from Hyundai’s new electric-global modular platform (E-GMP).

Kia is also developing a range of new purpose-built vehicles (PBVs) based on flexible ‘skateboard’ platforms, with modular bodies designed to meet the specific mobility needs of a broad range of corporate and fleet customers.

Partnerships with the likes of Canoo and Arrival will mean Kia PBVs can offer different bodies mounted on an integrated modular ‘skateboard’ platform, tailored to users’ functional requirements such as car-sharing vehicles, low-floor logistics vehicles, and delivery vehicles.

PBV demand is expected to grow five-fold by 2030 due to rapid and sustained growth in e-commerce and car-sharing services, Kia says.

“Changing our corporate name and logo is not only a cosmetic improvement. It represents us expanding our horizons and establishing new and emerging businesses that meet and exceed the diverse needs of our customers worldwide,” Kia Corporation president and chief executive Ho Sung Song says.

Kia is ramping up collaboration and partnerships with global mobility solutions businesses, diversifying mobility services in global strategic regions.

It’s establishing other mobility services, including WiBLE, a car-sharing joint venture with Repsol, Spain’s major energy corporation, in Madrid which operates 500 Kia Niro plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) through a free-floating method that allows users to freely rent and return vehicles within the service area and has more than 130,000 members.

KiaMobility was launched across Italy and Russia in September 2020 and will be introduced to new markets in coming years.

Kia is targeting a 6.6% share of the global BEV market by 2025, and global annual sales of 500,000 BEVs by 2026.

The new vision is creating excitement within the Kia organisation in New Zealand, with Kia New Zealand managing director Todd McDonald saying the new logo signifies the emergence of a “brand new Kia with the symbolic unlocking of the Kia brand through the removal of the previous oval around the word Kia”.
The global Kia rebrand represents much more than just a logo change, he adds. “Kia is aiming for leadership in BEVs and the provision of mobility services worldwide – locally my team and I are very excited about Kia’s future.”

And they are wasting no time implementing the first of the changes in New Zealand, with the website and all communications having now adopted the new logo and brand slogan.

McDonald says plans are also in place for the dealer showrooms to wear the new corporate look and he says there is considerable enthusiasm among the dealer network for the change.

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