KIA MOTORS

Kia Motors

Kia Motors

Introduction

Kia is a motor vehicle manufacturer in Korea. It manufactures and sells a range of passenger cars, recreational vehicles and commercial vehicles, both in the domestic and international markets. The company sells its products through a network of 4,000 distributors and dealers covering 169 countries around the world. The largest shareholder in the company is Hyundai Motor, which holds 34.6% of the company's stock. The company operates as a single business unit (Ihlwan, 2009).

The company owns and operates three principal automobile production bases, the Sohari factory, the Hwasung factory and the Kwangju factory. Kia has four assembly plants in Korea producing light passenger vehicles. Major foreign subsidiaries for international sales are Kia Motors America (KMA) in the US, Kia Canada in Canada, Kia Motors Deutschland and Kia Motors Europe in Germany. Also, the company established foreign manufacturing subsidiaries of Kia Motors Slovakia and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia in Slovak Republic and the US, respectively, to provide the demand of products in Europe and North America, respectively. In FY2009, Kia produced 1,531,000 units and sold 1,142,038 units of assembled vehicles.

The company is the major sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the Australian Open tennis championship since 2002, and the X Games Asia.

History of Company

It was established in 1944, Kia is the oldest vehicle manufacturer in Korea. The company was incorporated in 1944 as Kyungsung Precision Industry, which manufactured bicycle parts. The company changed its name to Kia Industrial in 1951. A decade later in 1961, Kia rolled out the C-100 motorcycle. The shares of the company were listed on the Korea Stock Exchange in 1973.

The company's first overseas research and development (R&D) center was established in Japan during 1989. In the 1980s, Kia increased production of small trucks to include the Bongo, Rhino and Trade cargo vehicles. The company continued to manufacture cars, with the development of Kia's first two-liter vehicle, the Concord, in 1987. In 1990, the name of the company was changed to Kia Motors. The formation of the Hyundai Automotive Group in 2000 saw Kia begin to benefit from synergies in research and servicing, as a new range of vehicles were developed, with more contemporary styling and greater appeal for overseas customers (Ihlwan, 2009).

Kia launched the Cheolima, its first vehicle designed exclusively for the Chinese market in 2002. In 2004, KMA unveiled Kia Spectra, a four door compact sedan at the North American International Auto Show. In Slovakia, Kia commenced construction of a new assembly plant. The company launched the Sedona, a minivan, in North America during 2005. During the same year, Kia established an environment technology research center in Korea. Later in 2005, the company launched new vehicle models including the Pride, Grand Carnival and Lotze. Kia also established its manufacturing operations in international markets during the same year. It commenced construction of a production site in the US and its second production site in China.

During 2006, the company launched its Kia Ceed (a new C-segment line) at the ...