Kia revealed its new logo and brand slogan while you were asleep last night, signifying the Korean automaker’s ambitions to become a leader in the industry by revamping nearly all facets of its business.
Kia developed the new logo to resemble a handwritten signature, a striking departure from the oval used since its inception in the U.S. The unbroken lines of the logo are supposed to convey the company’s moments of inspiration, while its symmetry signifies confidence. The logo supposedly embodies Kia’s rising ambitions for the brand, and what it offers customers. Much like Nissan’s recent logo redesign, it will probably have little effect on the buying public. It does make the old oval logo look dated in comparison, hardly the nameplate for a company like Kia that’s on the move.
“Kia’s new logo represents our commitment to becoming an icon for change and innovation”, said Ho Sung Song, Kia’s President and CEO. “The automotive industry is experiencing a period of rapid transformation, and Kia is shaping and adapting to these changes. Our new logo represents our desire to inspire customers as their needs evolve, and for our employees to rise to the challenges we face in a fast-changing industry.”
The new logo was unveiled during an over-the-top pyrotechnic display in the skies above Incheon, Korea. The event saw 303 pyrodrones launching hundreds of fireworks in a synchronized artistic display, igniting and celebrating Kia’s new beginning. This set a new Guinness World Record for most unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) launching fireworks simultaneously. No word on any environmental impact from the smoke or debris from the display.
In addition to the logo, Kia revealed its new global brand slogan, ‘movement that inspires’. Details on Kia’s new brand strategy, purpose, and philosophy as it applies to Kia’s future product line-up will be shared digitally through its New Kia Brand Showcase event to be held Friday, January 15th.
Kia’s Plan S long-term business strategy is to become a leader in the global car market, by focusing on popularizing EVs, introducing a range of mobility services like taxis and service vehicles, and tailoring them to meet the needs of local markets. Today Korea, tomorrow the world is essentially the message.
[Images: Kia]
How old is that truck design? It vaguely reminds me of a Scorpio.
That truck is HIDEOUS …
KIA designed it to pay homage to the Chevrolet SSR.
I wouldn’t describe it as good looking either, but it is an interesting design, more interesting than most of the pickup truck models currently on sale. If we are really being honest, trucks just aren’t good looking as a segment, its not their thing….. its really just varying degrees of “not good looking”.
It isn’t pretty, but then at that point most concept trucks really weren’t. If memory serves, this wasn’t far off from some of the GMC sketches and concepts of that era. A bit blobby, oddly proportioned.
My mistake- I was recalling the Chevy, not the GMC. 2003 Chevy Cheyenne concept.
A new front clip, square off some of the bulges and you have a pretty decent looking truck. I’m quite curious if Kia will be using the Santa Cruz platform for their own truck.
Well, the new logo probably looks good to people used to the Korean alphabet, but it looks unreadable as text to me. The public reception might not be as good outside of Korea, but the CEO is happy, and classic corporate verbiage of the puffery vsriety has been liberally applied. Now we can take bets: how long before they change it again?
The new logo is more of an image than text.
You can’t actually ‘read’ many company logos, and many don’t spell out the company name. This one still does, sort of.
The Toyota “T”, the Chevy “bow tie”, and the Audi rings are not readable, but they are recognizable.
I don’t mind the new look, but it’s not iconic to me – yet.
I like the new logo – it is a sorely needed change for Kia and the legacy logo was representative of their earlier bargain-bin econoboxes.
Kia needs to do two more things to better their image:
– Revamp the dealer experience across the board
– Get rid of the ridiculous hamster teeth grille design
That’s not what Korean looks like at all.
기아 KIA
And, pronounced: ghee-ah, not kee-ah.
“The automotive industry is experiencing a period of rapid transformation”
Are we sure about that?
I’ll believe it when dealer networks disappear.
“The automotive industry is experiencing a period of rapid transformation”
Not only automotive industry but America itself as well, our culture and with America the rest of the world, including China, Russia and even Japan. In one or two decades the world will be unrecognizable.
ILO,
Seem’s to me America is pretty unrecognizable already. I notice that, when Trump supporters’ protest at the capitol turns violent, CNN says it’s violent. But, all the destruction this year by mobs was mostly “peaceful” protests. But, then, “War is Peace.”
If that new logo is intended to obscure the fact that you’re driving a KIA, it’s going to work.
Oh? Please explain, without using stereotypes you read online. Mine have been great.
I’m simply saying that the old logo clearmy read as “KIA”. The new one requires a moment and some imagination to decipher. I’m not disparaging the brand, I have also considered buying a Kia. I rent a lot of Kia’s and I’ve noted that with each new model they are steadily improving and better looking as well.
I’d buy a Kia before I’d buy anything from GM, if that helps.
Don’t jump to conclusions.
Got it – sorry.
You’re right about the ability to decipher it. There have been a few logos that I simply couldn’t figure out, either because they aren’t iconic or because I couldn’t read them.
As a stylized font- it is what it is. Not bad, a bit more imaginative than the old one.
As a brand logo/badge for a grill, wheel caps, steering wheel, etc, it falls short.
Mercedes, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Acura, etc, all have clean, classy logos that either encorporate a letter or an idea, in an instantly recognizable shape. This has to be analyzed by the individual to understand what they are looking at. Not sure ‘confusion’ is the emotion that they will want to evoke if this is their ‘badge’ as well.
Good take. I rather like it for its graphic simplicity, but I’m not sure if it works as a conventional logo.
I suppose that the new logo is an improvement. Maybe I am dyslexic, It looks more like the letters “KN” (backwards N) than “KIA”. Perhaps that is intentional.
It actually looks like the Cyrillic letter which is equivalent to our “I”
IIRC, and this may be apocryphal, the old oval logo is the exact same shape as Ford’s; because back in the day (before Hyundai bought them) they had the Ford concession in Korea. They’d build their contracted amount of Fords and then start building KIAs by merely changing the logo.
Not quite true. The two ovals have different aspect ratios, so you couldn’t just pop one into the pocket for the other.
That’s what I assumed too, since they started using the oval logo around the time when Ford was commissioning car designs to Mazda and manufacturing to Kia (such as Ford Festiva/Aspire/Kia Pride).
I think they had a rectangular logo before that.
@Jeff Weimer
Yeah, it’s correct. the Kia oval matched the dimensions of the Ford oval. So the cars could be easily be sold as Fords.
In the late 80s early 90s they built the WA Ford Festiva. It was an uninspired econobox. It’s claim to fame was the SHOgun. Which pulled out the Mazda B3 1.3 l I4 and slipped the 3.0l DOHC V6 from the Tauruus SHO between the rear wheels. Though it had flared fenders to fix the V6 it was close to be a sleeper.
They followed up with the WB, WD, WF Ford Aspire. Which was a little less boxy.
Should Ford ever come to it’s senses about their boneheaded move of stopping sales of sedans, perhaps they can start selling rebadged KIAs again.
It just looks Cyrillic, like “KИ.” Pronounced “Kee.” Terrible logo.
The new logo looks good to me, modern with more tech-focused feel. The old letters inside a circle wasn’t really a logo, it was more like type treatment. My degree is in graphic design so what do I know.
Who cares about that truck… tell me more about the Nissan Z looking sports car in the first picture.
I actually like the new logo for its simplicity and as for the truck in the picture it is not that bad and I would definitely be interested in it if they priced competitively.
Kia rebrands as Nine Inch Nails. Film at 11.
Brilliant.
Is that stylized K that many people use aftermarket in any way official? That seems like it could have been something to build upon.
Not positive, but I thought that K logo was a KDM design that some would buy and use over here in place of the KIA badging. Could be wrong.
The K logo was the logo for the K900.
I agree, making that logo company wide would have been the smarter choice.
Actually the K logo predates the K900/K9. That vehicle came out in 2012, and the K logo was already a well established badge swap years before that.
But as with the early Hyundai branded Genesis models with the non-stick winged badge, that K logo swap was a very common one for the K900 dealers and owners, to remove the insufficient KIA dog tag from the front and rear.thwy have LONG been overdue for a rebrand/logo. This is better, but I don’t think they are there yet.
As was mentioned above, if they had just riffed on the K logo and updates that, it would have been better, even if just in this new font.
More ridiculous, wasteful corporate “branding” crap.
Back in 2002 after a ride in the then current Rio, I never dreamed that only 18 years later Kia would have a shiny logo like this.
I can read KIA, KN, Kiln, etc, but what hits me first is it looks like a pile of 7s that fell from the sky.
Movement that Inspires.
This could be a tagline for laxatives. Are all the good ones really taken?
geo, “This could be a tagline for laxatives.” Then shouldn’t it have been: “Inspires Movement”?
Kia’s new logo should be a hamster mounted on the hood in a similar fashion as the bulldog on a Mack truck.
Old_WRX, 75 million people are the mighty opposition. What they are gonna to do with it? To put all of them in jail?
Whenever a company completely redesigns their logo, it means that they’re in trouble.
I remember several veterans telling me that they could never buy a Kia because the logo looked like Killed In Action.
Maybe that’s why they changed it?
We referred to them as such and I still do.
Well buying a KN is better than a KIA so it may work.
Hmm, that Kia logos is nearly identical to the VIA in Via Rail Canada’s logo, the only difference is the angled line to make the first letter a K.