DEKAT DIGITAL 2019 - 2020

Our Hollywood blockbuster begins in 1944, when a company with the somewhat less catchy name of
Kyungsung Precision Industry was formed in Korea. It manufactured bicycle parts and steel pipes – rather
well, if the history books are to be believed.
In 1951, Kyungsung Precision Industry turned its attention to making a bicycle called the Sumchully. It did
so with aplomb, swiftly building up a reputation for producing a product boasting the finest quality. One
year later, Kyungsung Precision Industry decided to change its name to the far catchier Kia, which means
‘rising out of Asia’.
Initially, Kia branched out into the production of motorcycles and then trucks. It was only in 1974 that Kia started
manufacturing cars. Its very first car was called the Brisa, and it was based on Mazda’s Familia, a rather uninspiring
compact car. It is fair to say that few people believed the brand was poised for greatness.
Despite this, Kia traded with considerable success, producing a whopping 95 000 vehicles in 1985. But then, as
is always the case in a Hollywood blockbuster, disaster struck! Chun Doo-hwan, the military dictator ruling Korea
at the time, enforced the industry’s consolidation. He ruled that Kia could no longer produce passenger cars! It was
nothing short of a disaster for the relatively young company which, in 1986, built just 26 cars. Things went from
bad to worse and, by 1997, the Asian financial crisis caused Kia to declare bankruptcy. Many said that Kia was
doomed, and that its name would forever be erased from the annals of automotive history.
But, quite incredibly and contrary to what people believed possible, Kia rose from the ashes. It became part of
the Hyundai Motor Group, and suddenly things started looking better. Kia started to launch vehicles that looked
nice while representing terrific value for money. This combination resonated with motorists who, by 2006,
rewarded the automaker with a whopping 1 141 000 vehicle purchases. It also started launching products such
as the Sorento which, as an SUV, was the right vehicle at the right time. Kia was on the up! But, as is often the
case with those Hollywood blockbusters, the best was yet to come.
Things started looking even more promising when Peter Schreyer, one of the greatest car designers ever
(he played no small part in building the Audi and Volkswagen brands), joined the company that same year
(2006). He vowed to change the face of Kia. He wanted to change the design from somewhat neutral to quite
extraordinary, thereby creating a much-admired global design identity. And so he did. Within just a couple of
years, Kia became one of the most awarded design brands in the world. Its vehicle line-up shared absolutely
nothing with the Brisa – except the Kia name.
Schreyer has subsequently passed the design baton to Karim Habib, who was appointed senior vice president and
head of the Kia Design Centre earlier this year. Habib has had a long and much-admired career within vehicle
design at companies such as Infiniti, BMW and Daimler.
At the same time that Schreyer was appointed, Kia decided to focus on quality like never before. Over a billion
dollars was spent on research, focusing exclusively on how to improve quality. Significantly, while not entirely
shunning vehicle sales, the company took the decision to focus on quality above volume. Factories around the world
introduced new measures to ensure that Kia’s quality would be world class.
And it is. In fact, it’s not just world class today. It’s also the best in the world. Oh, and this is not just marketing talk.
This fact has been proven beyond any doubt by the results of JD Power’s Initial Quality Study; it has ranked Kia as
number one in quality for a whopping five consecutive years. Last year – with the highest ranked compact car, large
car, small SUV, mid-size SUV and compact multi-purpose vehicle in initial quality – Kia received more model awards
than any other nameplate. So, Kia produces vehicles that are top of their game when it comes to both design and
quality. This much we now know. But what of the actual product range?
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