Kia has a new man in charge, Ho Sung Song, and he has revealed part of his plan to keep the automaker on its roll.
In an interview with Automotive News Song said the company will “relaunch” itself in January 2021 as part of concerted push into electric vehicles and new mobility.
In addition to this the brand will adopt a new logo to support its desire to be “more dynamic, stylish and inventive”.
Song was appointed head of Kia in April 2019. Prior to this he served stints as head of global operations, and chief of the European division.
Kia Habaniro Concept
Although Kia has yet to officially unveil its new brand mark, trademark filings were discovered in December 2019 showing highly stylised and tightly packed letters.
This design evolved an earlier version which was quietly introduced on the Imagine concept earlier in the year.
When the new logo is launched it will spell the beginning of the end of the current design, which has been in use since 1994 with a few minor modifications.
Kia Imagine concept 
As part of the company’s Plan S, Kia will make a “preemptive transition” into the “new industry paradigm”, which will see it have an 11-strong range of EVs by 2025 and seven electric-only models based on the e-GMP architecture by 2027.
In terms of sales goals, Kia expects to sell 500,000 EVs, as well as 500,000 hybrid, plug-in hybrid and “eco” models, by 2026.
As far as global annual sales go, electric vehicles are expected to account for 20 per cent in 2025, and 25 per cent by 2029.
Kia’s current design-led push upmarket has seen the company significantly grow its sales. During the first nine months of 2020, Kia sold 428,350 cars in the US, almost as many as parent Hyundai (443,425).
Back in 2009, Hyundai and Kia notched up 434,066 and 300,063 sales respectively.
There’s been a similar trend in Australia. As of the end of September 2020, Kia (40,696) only trails Hyundai (45,219) by around 4500 units.
That contrasts very starkly with 2009 when Kia sold just 19,407 cars in Australia, streets behind Hyundai on 63,207.
