Kia

From bicycle manufacturer to rising Asian manufacturing giant

The South Korean Kia Motors Corporation is now one of the largest car manufacturers in the world, thanks mainly to its extremely dynamic development in recent years. Especially in the last two decades Kia stood out in all vehicle classes by strongly diversifying its fleet and attacking other car manufacturers. Through many innovative technologies developed in-house, such as optimizing fuel consumption or keeping CO2 emissions as low as possible, they gain an advantage over competitors. Although Kia has only really caused a sensation here in recent years, the company can look back on a very long history. It was founded in 1944, when the official name was still "Kyongseong Precision Industry". But already in 2018, Kia also celebrated a special quality anniversary: the brand has already been able to provide three million new vehicles in Europe with the customer-friendly long-term warranty since the introduction of the 7-year Kia manufacturer warranty. The Korean automaker's logo is kept quite simple: It consists of a red horizontal ellipse with the company name Kia in red letters.

From compact car to e-SUV - Current Kia models at a glance

With the exception of roadsters and SUVs, Kia currently has a broad-based vehicle fleet with models in all classes. The small car/compact class and the brand's numerous SUVs show in particular that Kia has recognized customer needs and has geared itself accordingly. A vehicle that is frequently represented in urban regions is Kia Picanto, which represents the brand's smallest car segment in its third generation. The same applies to the Kia Rio small car, which is available as a normal gasoline engine, as a T-GDI and as a mild hybrid with dual-clutch transmission. Another allrounder in the compact class is the Kia Ceed. In the mid-size class, Kia Optima keeps the brand's flag flying high. The SUV class is the showpiece of the brand; nowhere is its variability and selection greater. Kia Sportage made its mark on European roads back in the 1990s, when no one was talking about SUVs. Currently, the Sorento, the XCeed, the Stonic and the Niro complete Kia's SUV portfolio alongside the fourth generation.