Kia opened in December 1944 as Hyungsung Precision Industry, a manufacturer of steel tubing and bicycle parts.  The original factory was located in Yougdeungpo in the south of modern-day Seoul.  In March 1952 the factory built Korea’s first domestic bicycle, the Samcholli-ho, and changed names to the Kia Industrial Company.  The “Kia” name derives from two Chinese characters “ki” meaning “rising up” and “a” meaning Asia.  Kia can therefore be roughly translated as “Rising out of the East” or “Rising out of Asia.”

A decade later the Korean motor vehicle industry was born when Kia created the C-100 motorcycle.  A mere three months later, Kia’s Shiheung production line was building three wheeled trucks known as the K360.  Production of three wheel trucks continued until 1973, by which time the company had sold 25,000 of the vehicles.  Motorcycle production ended in 1981.

The Titan four-wheel truck developed in 1971 was so ubiquitous that in Korea, Titan became a Korean synonym for “truck.” Kia produced Korea’s first gasoline engine in 1973 and in October 1974 Korea’s first passenger car, the Brisa. The Brisa would later become the first Korean vehicle to be exported, when it was sold in the Middle East. Korea’s first diesel engine was also produced in 1978.

By 1979 Kia was producing under license the Peugeot 604 and the Fiat 132 sedans. In 1986 under an equity partnership with Ford Motor Company, Kia began producing the Pride or Festiva small car and later the Ford Aspire. Development of the Pride was carried out at Kia’s first dedicated R&D center which opened in October 1984 in Sohari, near Seoul. It has since been joined by two domestic and four overseas R&D centers. The first overseas R&D center was opened in Japan in 1989.

In 1992 Kia established its U.S. subsidiary, Kia Motors America. In 1994 Kia officially entered the U.S. market to sell vehicles at a network of dealerships that were initially only in California. European operations began in 1993 with the launch of the Sephia passenger car.

In 1997 the Asian financial crisis compounded difficulties for Kia Motors and the company was prevented from expanding its lineup. The takeover of Kia by Hyundai motors in 1998 marked the beginning of a rapid turnaround. By 1999 Kia was profitable once more and has remained so ever since. The formation of the Hyundai Automotive Group in Sept. 2000 saw Kia begin to benefit from synergies in research and manufacturing.  Showing confidence in the growing dependability of their product, Kia launched the Long Haul Warranty program in 2001. This program varies somewhat in different parts of the globe, but far surpasses what is offered by most other manufacturers.

In 2002 Kia produced its ten millionth car. Landmark models such as the Carnival/Sedona minivan and the Sorento premium SUV are propelling Kia rapidly forward in terms of product quality and consumer appeal. The company also became the major sponsor of the Australian Open tennis tournament in 2002.

With operations in 160 countries around the world, Kia Motors is a true global company. A part of the Hyundai Automobile Group since September 2000, Kia Motors’ retail operations are conducted through a distributor network covering 160 countries around the world. Kia Motors also has ten overseas subsidiaries and four overseas R&D facilities: two in the United States and one each in Europe and Japan.

In 2002 Kia sold almost 60% of its production capacity in overseas markets. Almost 600,000 vehicles were sold in markets spreading from Norway to South Africa and from giant China to tiny Trinidad. The U.S. market accounts for nearly 50% of Kia’s exports with Europe and Canada buying much of the remainder. Peter Butterfield, a U.S. native and former CEO of Kia's U.S. sales unit, says this productivity can be attributed to Confucian beliefs about hierarchy and respect for elders that he says are stronger in South Korea than anywhere else. Speed and efficiency are one result.

Butterfield says that soon after he joined the company in November 2001, his Korean supervisor asked whether they should move up to August a scheduled redesign of Kia's Optima sedan. Butterfield remembers asking, “You mean August 2003, right?'' The supervisor replied, “No, I mean August 2002.'' Butterfield says his former employer, Ford Motor Co., would have spent months writing 500-page research papers before making this decision.

Exemplified by vehicles such as the Carnival/Sedona, which has won accolades around the world for quality and extraordinary value, Kia is redefining many of the segments in which it operates. The real brand leader, however is the Sorento. While the Sedona raised awareness of Kia Motors, the Sorento exemplifies exactly what the company is capable of. From its inception, the Sorento was intended to be a defining product. The company has invested more time and resources into the vehicle than any other car in its history. Comprehensive consumer clinics conducted in the U.S. and Europe placed the Sorento on an equal footing with some of the world’s top premium brands.

"It's amazing how well Hyundai and Kia have been accepted by upper-income customers, even in places like Switzerland,'' says Christian Takushi, whose funds at Swissca Portfolio Management AG in Zurich hold 58,600 Hyundai Motor preferred shares and 31,636 common shares.


Kia Sportage, Compact SUV with 4WD, standard head curtain airbags and stability control

Currently all manufacturing for both the domestic and international market is done in Korea. However, Kia maintains assembly plants in ten countries. Foreign assembly has been running for over ten years and currently covers the Pride, Spectra, Sephia, Sportage, Shuma, and the Rio. Production capacity for Kia’s foreign operations is around 300,000 units. Kia regularly invites staff from foreign assembly plants such as Malaysia and China to Korea to learn the company’s advanced engineering technologies and manufacturing systems. This is paving the way for Kia to increase the scale of its assembly operations.

In Ecuador for example, a recent agreement with local partner Aymesa added the Rio compact car to the local assembly program. At the time Ecuador produced 3,000 Sportages per year. The new agreement added 7,000 Rios and significantly increased Kia’s presence in the Latin American market.

In November 2002 Kia launched the Cheolima, the first car the company designed for and manufactured in China. Kia is also contracted to extend its production facilities in China to the point at which the company will be manufacturing 500,000 cars every year in China by 2008. Kia and Hyundai opened a jointly run U.S. Design Center in February 2003 and a U.S. proving ground/test track in January 2005.

Down a barely noticed road crossing Highway 58, a few miles east of Mojave, is the entrance to the $60 million track. Not only can you not drive in -- you can't fly over. The track is inside a no-fly zone, thanks to nearby Edwards Air Force Base.

Past a "tortoise crossing" sign and a low hill blocking the view from the highway, Kia and Hyundai's "California Proving Ground" is an insider's world. Most of the 45 employees are drivers, many hired from nearby cities. But the eight engineers came from other car companies and are part of a small tribe schooled in the science of auto testing.

"It's a tight-knit community," said Matt Seare, the track's manager. "We've probably got all the major companies represented on our staff."

Seare heard about the job from a friend at the Honda track, which also is in California City. Years ago, he worked at a Ford test track in Florida. The facility consists of the oval track and seven smaller test areas, like an off-road area and an uphill course. Past a bridge posted with signs in Korean and English, Seare drives over to the Vehicle Dynamics Area, a wide expanse of pavement covered in skid marks. "It's a safe place to do unsafe things," Seare explained. Seare drove on to the "special surface" area, six lanes filled with different pavement surfaces and common road obstacles like manhole covers. Parts of those lanes are modeled precisely on portions of Los Angeles freeways -- Interstates 5, 10 and 710, to be exact. Caltrans shut down lanes in the middle of the night so Seare and his co-workers could take measurements.

The new U.S. design center, a $30 million, 90,000 square foot facility opened in Irvine California employs more than 100 staff. Mong-Koo Chung, chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. said of the center, "This will be the new mecca of automotive technology, attracting the finest automotive designers and engineers. And in this center of excellence, everyone will be given the opportunity to do their best to advance the design of Hyundai and Kia cars." Kia has just announced plans for a European design center in Frankfort, Germany. It is scheduled to open in March 2007 and will be independent of Hyundai.

Rendering of the planned Kia Design Center in downtown Frankfurt, Germany

Yong-Hwan Kim, senior executive vice president of Kia Motors Corporation, said: "Building a separate design center in Europe is an important and timely step in order to further differentiate Kia's product range from Hyundai and our competitors."

Ultimately Kia plans to manufacture vehicles from scratch in more overseas markets. Although Kia is considering a U.S. plant in the state of Mississippi, no plans have been finalized on when and where the next stage of this plan will unfold. All that is certain is that one day Kia will launch another full-scale international manufacturing facility. Chief Executive Officer Kim Dong Jin says he expects Hyundai Auto Group, which includes Kia Motors Corp., to be ranked among the world's five largest automakers as soon as 2009, passing Volkswagen AG and DaimlerChrysler AG.

Concept cars forecast an interesting preview of the company’s future. A sporty midsize pickup concept , the Mojave/KCV-4 pickup was unveiled at the Chicago International Auto show in February 2004.

Kia’s name proves prescient.   Like the phoenix rising from ashes, just four years after it looked to be on the brink of failure, Kia has indeed “risen from Asia” with a future that has never looked brighter.

compiled and written by GeoUSA

copyright 2005 - 2008, George Perry and The Hyway