Kia Motors Limited popular as Kia Motors is a multinational car manufacturer. Its headquarter is in Seoul, South Korea. Following the Hyundai Motor Company, it is South Korea’s second-largest automobile manufacturer. It has sales of over 3.3 million cars in 2015. The Kia Motor Corporation is a minority-owned by Hyundai as of December 2015. The company owns a 33.88 percent stake valued at just over US$ 6 billion. It, in turn, is a minority owner of over twenty Hyundai subsidiaries ranging from 4.9% to 45.37%, totaling over US$ 8.3 billion.
Kia Motors: History
The automobile company was founded in December 1944 as Kyungsung Precision Industry, steel tubing, and bicycle parts manufacturer. The industry eventually produced Korea’s first domestic bicycle, the Samchully, in 1951. Kyungsung Precision Industry changed its name to Kia Industries in 1952. Later the industry built Honda-licensed small motorcycles in 1957, Mazda-licensed trucks in 1962 and automobiles in 1974. In 1973, the Sohari Company opened its first integrated automotive assembly plant. After the new military dictator, Chun Doo-hwan forced consolidation of the industry. Kia built the small Brisa range of cars until 1981 when production came to an end.
Caption: Kia motors in history
Source: globalcarsbrands
Which prompted Kia to abandon passenger cars and focus solely on light trucks. Kia rounded out its passenger car range with two other international models. They assemble the models under license prior to the forced closure in 1981, the Fiat 132 and the Peugeot 604. Kia entered the automotive industry in collaboration with Ford as of 1986. Then, they only produced 26 cars, and later more than 95,000 the next year. For both domestic sales in South Korea and for export to other countries, Kia manufactured many Mazda-derived vehicles. Such models included the Kia Pride, from the Mazda 121 and the Avella. In addition, Ford Aspire in North America and Australasia.
The United States incorporated Kia Motors America in 1992. People bought the first Kia vehicles in 1992 from four dealerships in Portland, Oregon. Since then Kia has been expanding one region at a time methodically. Dealers sold the Sephia in 1994; and some years later, with the introduction of the Sportage, the United States segment extended the line. In 1995, there had existed over one hundred Kia dealerships across thirty states, selling a record 24,740 vehicles.
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Kia Motors: Affiliation
Mexico
The company has established a $1 billion manufacturing facility in Nuevo Leon, the northern Mexican state, which produces 300,000 cars a year. Kia Motors CEO Hyoung-Keun Lee and Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City published the details of the plant, Pesquera, at a joint press conference on 28 August 2014. They planned the completion of the plant in the first half of 2016. This factory is embroiled in controversy because it was constructed on unevenly purchased land and the building agreement was made with terms of benefit and out of the local arrangements for Kia.
Caption: Kia motors in Mexico
Source: thenewsmarket
Pakistan
Kia Lucky Motors is a joint venture between Kia Motors and Lucky Cement, in Pakistan. Originally importing fully constructed units as of 1 June 2018, KLM will start local production by September 2019.
America
Kia Motors America is Kia Motors Corporation’s US sales, marketing, and distribution arm. Its headquarters is in Irvine, California and offers a full line of vehicles through more than 755 dealers across the U.S. The two most recent models released to the U.S. market were both highly awarded in the short time after their launch. Stinger’s performance sedan received recognition in 2018 with J.D. The inaugural Technology Award for Highest Ranked All-New Vehicle by Power as well as the Car of the Year Award by Business Insider. In winning major prizes from research organizations, such as Kelley Blue Book, MotorTrend and most recently Edmunds, Telluride made its mark several times over in 2020.
Caption: Kia motors in America
Source: kiamedia
Hyundai Motor Company
The Hyundai Motor Company has a 33.88 percent stake in Kia Motors as of December 31, 2015. As of 31 December 2015, Kia Motors is also the licensee of 22 independent Hyundai companies. The figures for ownership range from 4.9% to 45.37%.
Europe
Kia Motors Europe is Kia Motors Corporation’s European Sales and Marketing division. As of the first half of 1991, it has been selling cars in Europe. When Kia launched in Europe in 1991, she was initially only selling the Pride supermini. Pride supermini is a rebadged version of Mazda 121 from the late 1980s. It proved initially popular among buyers. Similarly, Kia had sold nearly 1,800 Pride in the UK by the end of 1991. This figure was doubled in the first full year, 1992, and increased again to nearly 5,500 units in 1993. But sales fell towards the end of the decade, and production was finally announced with its successor, Rio, in May 2000.
India
The company entered the Indian market in July 2019 and now unveiled they’re’ Made for India ‘SUV-SP2 Concept as the new mid-sized Kia Seltos SUV. The company has established a manufacturing facility on a Greenfield land in Anantpur district near Penukonda, Andhra Pradesh. The capacity to produce is 300,000 units per year. Kookhyun Shim has been named by Kia Motors as MD & CEO for its Indian arm. Shim will be responsible for his new role in leading the expansion of the carmaker to the Indian market. Shim will play a leading role in ensuring the timetable and schedule of operations scheduled for KMI is met.
Kia Motors: Design
Starting in 2006, Kia established design as its “central future growth driver”-leading to Peter Schreyer’s hiring in 2006 and Tom Kearns ‘ hiring as Chief Design Officer in 2005. Schreyer had previously worked at Audi (the Audi TT designer) and Volkswagen and received the Federal Republic of Germany’s Design Award. Kearns had previously worked as Chief Design Officer at Cadillac and was responsible for shaping the development of Cadillac from the hard angles and sharp lines within their design. Since then, Schreyer has been key to a complete restyling of Kia’s portfolio, overseeing production operations at Kia’s design centers in Munich, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and South Korea’s Namyang Production Centre.
Kia introduced a new corporate grille with the Kee concept vehicle, shown at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show to create a recognizable’ face’ for the brand. Since then, Kia has featured the Tiger Nose on all of its vehicles, from the compact Kia Soul to the edgy new Kia Optima design and the larger Kia Telluride SUV. Since 2013, Kia cars have won the International Car of the Year award annually.
Kia Motors: Controversies
There were allegations for Kia Motors to admit error in inflating its U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mileage claims at the end of 2012 and had to reduce its fuel economy claims. Additionally, the claims were across the board by about 3 percent and offer compensation to previous vehicle buyers. Kia Motors involved in controversy in Mexico since 2014 due to alleged irregularities in the construction of one of its manufacturing plants, located in Pesqueria municipality, Nuevo Leon. They built the plant in an irregularly negotiated land agreement between Kia Motors Mexico and the State of Nuevo Leon, then led by Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz. The Cruz signed under unfairly favorable terms, such as greater tax benefits than those allowed by Mexican law applied to Kia’s Mexican suppliers.
The current Governor of Nuevo Leon, Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, released a copy of the full agreement on Facebook as part of a prosecution case against Medina. Similarly, he announced that the agreement signed with his predecessor would be canceled. In June 2016 the government of Rodriguez signed new agreement. An anti-corruption prosecutor prosecuted former governor Medina de la Cruz and 30 other officials of the former state government for suspected embezzlement, the illegal exercise of public functions and damage to Nuevo Leon State assets.
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