Like Peugeot, Kia started as a bicycle maker before building cars. The first car to wear the Kia logo is the Kia Brisa Pick-up, a rebadged Mazda Familia Pick-up, in 1973.
Just as how Korea – once one of the poorest countries in the world after the end of the Korean War in 1953 – has been making big leaps , so too did Kia every 5 years.
A rebadged Mazda, the Kia Brisa is Kia’s first model, available as a sedan or a pick-up
Kia’s first self-developed car came in 1992, and Kia spent the next 20 years chasing after Toyota in the US and Audi in Europe.
The latest Kia EV6 is a high point for the company but shortly after announcing the high-performance electric crossover, Kia did a drastic rebranding exercise, dropping the word ‘Motor’ from Kia Motor Corporation, and releasing a new corporate video that did not feature any car.
Instead, Kia said that to chart a course for the future, it needs to return to its roots as the original green mobility company. Why, after achieving so much, is Kia looking for inspiration in its origin as a humble bicycle maker?
To make sense of the shift, one must understand the path taken and how Kia became what it is today, and the big leaps it had been making every 5 to 10 years.
Kia Sephia, one of the first Kia models in Malaysia
Early 2000s – Quality push
About 10 years after the Kia Sephia, Kia went on an obsessive quality improvement drive. In 2006, J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study for the US market ranked Kia 24th (out of 37 brands surveyed). One year later, it was ranked 12th. Today, it is ranked 5th, ahead of Lexus.
Mid-2000s – Design matters
At around the same time it leaped quality survey results, Kia initiated another long moon shot. In 2005 it established a new Design Management Strategy in 2006, head-hunted ex-Audi design chief Peter Schreyer to lead it.
The subsequent generation of Kia products quickly become synonymous with Red Dot design awards and it’s not a stretch to say that Kia models can now easily pass a blind test as an Audi.
2010s – No more cheap Kias
The Kia Soul’s shuffling hamsters defined Internet pop culture of the early-2010s. It broke the Internet, and marked the coming of age of Kia.
The development of emotionally appealing Kia vehicles were further boosted by the appointment of ex-BMW M’s vehicle dynamics Albert Biermann and ex-Bentley’s design chief Luc Donckerwolke.
All these have culminated in the Kia that we know today – a company whose range of products range from a tiny Picanto to an Audi e-tron-challenging EV6, to the Carnival that’s a better Alphard in every way.
2020s – Beyond cars
With little else left to prove, where else can Kia go? Of course, it can continue to chase after Audi or even Mercedes-Maybach but what is the point of all that?
As we head towards 2030 and beyond, cars will no longer be viewed in the same way as today. The car will become closer to a smartphone on wheels. Gigahertz and Gigabytes matter more than horsepower and torque. Even leather, the pride of European craftsmanship and a key differentiator of high-end cars, is being shunned in many electric vehicles including the Kia EV6, as sustainably sourced recycled materials are preferred over leather.
By 2040, cars will only contribute 50% of Kia’s business, the future is in mobility solutions, whether it’s a car or an air taxi or a robot that helps the elderly move around better
The car industry is heading for a hard reset and as a result, the forward-looking Kia needs to ask itself if it still wants to stay ahead of Audi and Toyota, when the goal post is already being moved elsewhere by the likes of Tesla, Google, Apple, and Xiaomi.
Bigger and faster is not always better. Sustainability is the new target, especially for a car company that hopes to survive in this era of climate change awareness.
In a rather counterintuitive move by a car company, Kia’s latest corporate branding video does not even feature a close up on any car, never mind electric cars like the EV6.
The brand has also changed its tagline from ‘The power to surprise’ to ‘Movement that inspires.’
Instead, Kia is returning to its fundamentals – people and their desire to keep moving. Cars, whatever their powertrain type, is just one of the many ways people use to move about. The new brand direction is bringing Kia back to where it all began, the fundamental purpose of a car’s existence – mobility.
Mobility includes e-scooters, driverless robo-taxis, passenger carrying drones, and maybe even humanoid robots! The latter is being pursued via the Hyundai Motor Group’s (which Kia is part of) latest acquisition in world leading robotics company Boston Dynamics. The company is also working with Rolls-Royce (the aeroplane engine maker, not the car brand owned by BMW) to develop air taxis.
The future of Kia is less about cars, more about helping people move, whatever the method
Hence the ‘Motor’ theme for Kia is being replaced by ‘Mobility.’
Kia’s new mid-term plan, known as Plan S (for Shift), is not centred around cars, but shifting Kia’s reliance on internal combustion engines to one that’s centred around electric vehicles and customized mobility solutions to solve problems in sprawling megacities – including passenger carrying drones and robots to assist the elderly or persons with limited mobility.
People, Planet, and Profit are the three pillars of Kia’s Plan S – which targets 1.2 million battery EV models by 2030, and to become the No.1 manufacturer of purpose-built vehicles (PBVs), also by 2030.
PBVs can range from single seater micro-commuter pods to medium size robo-taxis to large urban electric vans whose size and shape can be easily adjusted to customer’s requirements, with low maintenance 600,000 km durability.
PBVs are customized commercial use EVs custom-made to an individual business’ needs
By 2026, Kia wants 52 percent of its profit to be contributed by green vehicles, which include hybrids and EVs. By 2040, all Kia manufacturing plants will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy. By 2045, Kia will become carbon neutral.
The EV6 that is on sale today is merely a first step that, ironically, make Kia into less of a car company, more of a mobility company.
Bermaz Auto’s head office in Glenmarie. Next to it is the Kia outlet
Closer to Malaysia, Kia distributor Dinamikjaya Motors’ parent company Bermaz Auto has established its own Bermaz Auto Training School – the first of its kind in Malaysia with nine IMI Level 4 (EV competency) trainers, contributing to growing the local talent pool to support the transition towards EVs.
The company’s wide portfolio of green products, circular economy-based supply chain and processes that extends to its vendors, and contribution to upskilling of young Malaysians are among the reasons why Bermaz Auto is included into the (Environment, Sustainability, Governance) FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index – the only Bursa-listed automotive company to do so.
Keyword: Every 5 years or so, Kia makes a giant leap but this EV6 is not the end goal, so what is?