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- [Narrator] In 2021, many people started searching for KN car,
but there's no car company by that name.
Turns out, people were misreading Kia's new logo.
This change was part of Kia's multimillion dollar rebrand
in 2021, which included new colors,
redesigned dealerships, and a new website.
- This new logo is absolutely a way
for them to redefine their competitive set.
They're no longer competing
with Honda, or Toyota, or Ford, or GM.
They're trying to compete with Tesla.
- [Narrator] So let's break down Kia's rebrand
and see how it's using a new logo
to try to move its brand upmarket.
Kia has been around for almost 80 years
and in that time, the company has gone
through six iterations of its logo.
- The history of Kia really is in manufacturing,
and you see that with some of the history of their logos.
- [Narrator] Blake Howard is the creative director
of Matchstic, a brand identity firm in Atlanta.
He's also the host of a podcast that dissects logo changes.
- And it wasn't really until they went
into the US car market that they started to think more
about their own proprietary, branded vehicles, or product.
- [Narrator] This logo launched in 1994,
the same year Kia officially entered the US market.
- [Narrator 1] Introducing Kia.
- [Narrator] Where it differentiated itself
with the price of its cars, and this reputation
of being a budget brand stuck along with its logo.
- Kia, for years, has been the value brand in the US,
the thing that teens might get as their first car.
- [Narrator] Here's what some consumers said
they thought about Kia.
- This is the standard car.
- Value for money product.
(speaks foreign language)
- [Narrator] But according to surveys
by the research firm, J.D. Power,
the quality of Kia cars has been improving for years.
- In the early 2000s, they started to focus more
on design, car design, the product design
and in a lot of ways, the old logo felt like
it was an eyesore slapped onto that more modern product
that they had already produced.
So now with this more modern logo,
they actually finally feel like the Kia
that a lot of us maybe already knew was out there.
- [Narrator] Kia hopes to change its brand image
with this 2021 rebrand, specifically with its new logo.
- So when we think about logo design,
there are three things that we think about,
shape, color, content.
- [Narrator] And Kia made changes to all three.
In terms of shape, Kia ditched the traditional container
that many other car companies use in their logos.
- So you can see Honda has a container.
Toyota has traditionally had that container,
and that's because it's super functional.
It's easy to slap on that container shape
as a separate piece of artwork
on any type of make or model of a vehicle
- [Narrator] For color, Kia swapped out red for black
to not only indicate a dramatic change
from its previous logos, but also to stand out
from other car brands.
- Red and blue are the most popular colors
for brands to choose in the United States,
which is no surprise.
And when you look in the car market, you see a lot of red,
specifically with foreign import brands.
- [Narrator] Kia also changed its brand colors
to Midnight Black and Polar White.
- It's no longer just a generic red,
it's no longer a generic white.
Even the nuanced decision in color like that signals
that they're a little bit more design-driven.
Consumers might not generally recognize it at a high level,
but I do think it all starts to feel cohesive,
and it will build a visual language
for Kia over time that hopefully is recognizable.
- [Narrator] Finally, there's the content of the logo,
which involves the choice of typography.
- It's always ideal to have
the brand name front and center
out in the marketplace as loud and proud as possible.
- [Narrator] And Kia chose to represent its brand name
in an abstract way.
But this design choice has caused some confusion.
- Saw this logo on a car and thought it was nine inch nails.
- The biggest criticism is around legibility.
When people see a car brand,
they expect to quickly understand what the brand name is,
especially when there are letters involved.
- [Narrator] Blackspace, the agency
that designed Kia's new logo says
the lettering is meant to look like a cursive signature.
- They were inspired by calligraphy
and they were working with different Korean glyphs
and the letters are built off
of consistent parallel angled lines
that represent this idea of rising.
- [Narrator] They said the rising strokes are meant
to symbolize the meaning of Kia,
which is to come up out of Asia.
Another big part of Kia's rebranding effort
is redesigning its dealerships in the US.
- The new dealerships are really designed
to be less like an office space
and more like a high-end retail outlet
where the cars are laid out is open
and spacious and metallic.
- [Narrator] Kia says it is also trying
to attract electric vehicle buyers
who typically don't like going
to traditional car dealerships.
Kia isn't the only car company investing
in a new dealership look,
nor is it unique in changing its logo.
But what may set Kia apart is the speed
and breadth of its rebranding efforts.
- This is something that usually happens slowly
and surely over a number of years, and Kia's seem to be,
by comparison, doing this at breakneck speed.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] So how has Kia's business changed
since it unveiled its rebrand In January, 2021?
- Clearly Kia's on a roll.
They had their best to ever third quarter recently
in terms of sales in the US.
- [Narrator] Kia's revenue shot up in 2021,
and this year it launched the EV6,
the company's first dedicated EV model
and the Niro EV, both with a starting US sticker price
of around $40,000.
Kia says it plans to release 14 EV models globally by 2027,
and it plans to sell 1.2 million
electric vehicles a year by 2030.
- And that puts them well in the running
for among the top EV sellers in the world.
- [Narrator] But the inflation reduction act,
which passed in August,
could throw a wrench in Kia's ambitious plans.
The new law requires cars to be assembled
in the US in order to qualify
for the government's $7,500 EV tax credit.
Kia and its sister company, Hyundai Motor
have factories in the US for their gas-powered cars.
But their EVs are currently made in Korea.
Hyundai's $5.5 billion EV and battery factory
in Georgia is only set to open in 2025.
- South Korea and the US are currently in talks
about possibly figuring out a way around this problem.
But if things don't change, Kia could face a huge challenge
in reaching its sales target for 2030.
- [Narrator] The other big challenge facing Kia
is that almost every major car maker
is coming out with EVs at the same time.
- Every time that happens, whether it's a pickup truck,
a minivan, a hatchback, or a new battery-powered vehicle,
the challenge for these companies
is always how to stand out in those crowded spaces.
- [Narrator] With all the changes it's made
over the last two years, Kia is not only betting big
on the EV boom, but it's also banking
on the lasting ripple effects of its rebranding efforts.
- Branding really is a long-term investment.
It's redefining these micro-touch points
that will add up to this macro feeling
in the marketplace over time.
But what's modern now might not feel modern in five,
or 10 more years from now, but the Kia logo
is built off simple design principles, so that will endure.
(bright upbeat music)