If you’re a basketball fan, you’re probably very familiar with Kia, as the Korean automaker has worked with the sport since the 2007-2008 season. Kia has a very wide presence in the series with various awards in the NBA, WNBA, NBA off-season Summer League, and the NBA minor league G League as well as partnerships with many teams. Now, Kia is partnering with one of the League’s more unexpected franchises: the Detroit Pistons.
Why is this unexpected? Well—it’s Motor City, home of the Big Three (Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis nee Fiat Chrysler). If a team is going to have an automotive partner, wouldn’t the Pistons have one from one of its hometown manufacturers?
Motor City History
Looking back at the history of the Detroit Pistons and their namesake, a financial involvement in the auto industry was integral to the team’s start. In 1937, Fred Zollner owned Zollner Corporation, a manufacturer of pistons for the automotive and transport industries in Fort Wayne, Indiana. When his employees asked him to form a semi-professional basketball team, he went along with the idea and formed the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons.
In 1941, the team joined the National Basketball League and went from a worker-based team to professional team known as the Zollner Pistons. Zollner was also instrumental in forming the NBA in 1949. By that time, Zollner wanted to move the team from Fort Wayne to someplace larger and finally settled on Detroit in 1957. Due to the move to the Motor City, the Zollner kept the rather apt “Pistons” name and that’s where the team has remained for 65 years.
Kia Isn’t The Team’s First Automotive Partner
Other connections to the automotive industry are tied to the Detroit Pistons. First, there is the Pistons’ training facility and corporate office, the Henry Ford Health Systems Detroit Pistons Performance Center. The Henry Ford Health System was started by, you guessed it, the same Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company’s namesake in 1915, just 12 years after incorporating the future automotive giant. Much like wanting to create a car for the working man with the Model T, his healthcare foray was designed to be affordable for the worker, as well.
There was also Jeep, which entered a multi-year partnership with the Pistons in 2017. That partnership consisted of a “Jeep” logo on the Pistons’ home court, signage around the home and visiting team benches, and digital assets. While the Kia announcement doesn’t specify what the automaker will get with the Pistons, we can’t imagine it would be something wildly dissimilar to this.
Additional Images From Getty
Keyword: The Detroit Pistons' New Automotive Partner Isn't Ford, General Motors, or Chrysler