21 November 2004

KIA – THE HISTORY OF ONE OF THE WORLD'S MAJOR TRANSPORT COMPANIES.

Kia may be best known in Australia for the Carnival and the Pregio, both top sellers in their sectors, as well as the stylish Sorento 4x4 and the value for money Rio small car, but not many people realize that it's possible to buy a Kia bus, truck, snow mobile and even a massive tank carrier.

Kia was founded in the difficult days at the end of World War II with the aim of getting Korea back on the move, initially becoming the country's major manufacturer of bicycles. These progressed into motor bikes and in 1962 the company produced its first vehicle, a light delivery van, followed by its first heavy truck in 1971 and in 1972 the Kia Brisa, its first car. The following year it started exporting light commercial vehicles and the car range had grown to three models.

In 1973 Kia became the first company in Korea to locally produce petrol car engines and in 1978 it developed Korea's first domestic diesel engine. At the same time it took over Asia Motors, further growing its heavy commercial business.

In 1979 Kia's quality car production was recognized by the fact that two of the world's leading European car makers chose the Korean car maker to build its models on their behalf, and not any model, either, but their range toppers, the Peugeot 604 and Fiat 132 started rolling down Kia's production lines.

But it was in the 1980s that Kia's growth really took off. The Bongo van was launched, the first in a series of light commercial vehicles that laid the foundations for today's Pregio and K2700, selling in their hundreds of thousands across Asia. In 1984 Kia opened its all new Research and Development Centre, a commitment to producing advanced new vehicles at all levels in the market place.

In 1986 Ford joined the list of car makers who looked to Kia to produce cars to be sold under their name, with the Festiva joining Ford's line up first in the USA, then across the world, including in Australia where Kia produced two generations of Ford's entry level car.

Kia continued to compete in the automotive industry until 1997, when it fell victim to the Asian financial crisis of that year and was taken over by the Hyundai Business Group the following year. The Hyundai Automotive Group was founded in 2000 and Kia and Hyundai Motor Company became sister companies along with parts supplier Hyundai Mobis and a number of other companies. The two companies share R&D facilities and parts distribution networks. At the manufacturing end, Kia and Hyundai are benefiting from increased use of shared platforms, transmissions and engines. By 2008, the number of platforms will be reduced from 23 to 6. The two companies will also have 13 different engines at their disposal.

The growth of Kia can be measured in millions. It took the car maker from 1962 to 1988 to produce its first million cars, but the next two million were produced by 1993, just five years later and in 2002 Kia passed the ten million mark. A remarkable rate of growth. Today Kia produces a remarkably diverse range of vehicles sold in 190 countries around the world. Each national distributor can choose from five different major car model lines from Rio to Opirus; a range of five different people movers and 4x4 vehicles from the new Sportage, via the Carnival to the Sorento; there are six different van and truck models, including the Pregio and K2700 sold in Australia; there are two bus and coach model lines; and no less than six different military vehicle model lines from small all-terrain vehicles, through to snow vehicles and six and eight wheel drive trucks to tank carriers. Kia is committed to producing ten brand new models by 2005

Kia has also shown its commitment to the future with no less than seven functional advanced prototype cars displayed around the world over the last three years. These have been produced from Kia's design centres in the USA - one in Los Angeles and another in Detroit - and in Europe, as well as their home base in Korea, where there are three research and development centres, a major proving test track and a powertrain development centre.

Kia has equipped these centres with the latest technology. Vehicles can be designed in virtual space, tested in climatic wind tunnels and all with the world's most powerful computers.

Kia has three production centers in Korea and one overseas plant in China: Hwasung, which has an annual production of 600,000 units; Sohari, which produces 340,000 units; Kwangju, which manufactures 210,000 commercial vehicles and Jiangsu in China with 50,000 units every year. In addition, the company in 2003 combined six R&D centers in Korea within one main operational hub in Namyang. Overseas, Kia has 13 subsidiaries and a distributor network covering 154 countries. The company also maintains two R&D centers in the United States, one in Germany and one in Japan. Construction has now started on its first European factory, which is being built in the Slovak Republic.

KIA - AN AUSTRALIAN SUCCESS STORY

In March 2000 Kia Automotive Australia (KAA) opened its doors for business, a partnership between the strength of Kia and the local knowledge of one of Australia's major distributors, Ateco Automotive.

And sales have only gone in one direction: Up, with KAA on target to triple sales in three years.

KAA has revamped, strengthened and grown the Kia dealer group in Australia, to offer more dealers that are better equipped and trained to offer optimum customer service.

KAA has grown the sales of existing models such as the Carnival, taken Kia into new market car sectors with the Rio and Sorento, revised the original Sportage to make it even more successful and diversified into commercial vehicles with the hugely successful Pregio and K2700 Decisive and exciting marketing and advertising has placed Kia and its products in front of millions of Australians with an unbeatable combination of bigger, better equipped vehicles at value for money prices.

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