Every morning, David García sees from the windows of his house a spectacular with a giant Kia logo. But it is not the red oval with which the South Korean brand became known in Mexico, but the new one, in gray tones and with the last two letters attached.
García, who was recruited by the brand in May 2015 to lead the sales area, confesses that, at the beginning, the new logo, which will soon be stamped on the brand’s vehicles and points of sale, did not like it very much because he he had grown fond of the old red oval with the three letters in white.
“The growth that Kia had with that brand image excites me a lot, and all of a sudden they tell us: now we are going to become this other. At first it took me a little to assimilate, ”he says.
The brand had used variants of its old logo, with the word Kia surrounded by an oval, since 1994, with minor adjustments in 2004 and 2012. But the new badge represents a radical change: it adopts a stylized script and connects the last two letters.
Garcia explains that the huge ad in front of his house is one of several billboards that Kia has hired across the country to promote its new brand image, which in addition to a new logo also includes a new tagline, “Movement that inspires.” , which replaces “Power to Surprise”, a surprising power.
The new emblem and tagline were unveiled earlier this year during a pyrotechnic display in the skies over Incheon, South Korea, where 303 drones launched fireworks.
Kia is part of a wave of manufacturers that have changed their logo on their way to a strategy focused on transforming the business model, which no longer only includes the manufacture of cars, but also the offer of mobility services, from the payment of internet services and geolocation inside cars, even car rental memberships. Manufacturers are wanting to reflect this change in their brand identities.
General Motors, for example, also changed its logo at the beginning of the year for another in shades of blue and white. Volkswagen made a controversial announcement about changing the brand name to Volt-wagen, to emphasize its commitment to electromobility, which in the end turned out to be part of a marketing campaign for April’s Fool, April Fool’s Day in the United States. United.
Kia has gone a bit further, as it has not only changed its logo and slogan, but months before it also removed the word ‘Motors’ from its corporate name, as part of the global brand strategy of the Korean automotive giant, which aims to focus on electric mobility to reduce carbon footprint.
The company is investing $ 25 billion to increase mass production of electric vehicles by 2025 and rapidly expand into what the company calls special-purpose vehicles, or PBVs, dedicated to mobility startups such as passenger transportation and commerce. electronic.
“The auto industry is undergoing a period of rapid transformation, and Kia is proactively shaping and adapting to these changes,” said Ho-Sung Song, Kia’s global CEO, in a company statement on January 6. “Our new logo represents our desire to inspire customers as their mobility needs evolve.”
In Mexico, the company will change its emblem and name at its Pesquería plant, Nuevo León, and will do the same at its dealerships in a phased manner. The first to adopt the new image will be that of Lindavista, in Monterrey, one of the first that opened in 2015 and that today sells more of the brand’s models in the country.
“We say goodbye to the ‘red cube’ to give way to a new concept, that of ‘united opposites’, with a more neutral color range, in gray, black and white for the facades, and with wooden interiors and a neon light. More contrasting things, completely different from what we have today, ”says García, who estimates that the renewal of the 96 Kia agencies in the country will take about three years. You will start with the first ones that opened six years ago and that have already paid off their initial investment.
The new emblem will also appear on vehicles that the brand is updating in Mexico. First at Stinger and then at Forte.
The next phase of the brand’s transformation involves the launch of electrified models and the offering of new mobility services. “In the daily meetings we work on new mobility proposals that we can launch in the market, beyond owning a car,” says García.
Kia arrived in Mexico in mid-2015 and became the fifth best-selling brand in the market in 2018, a position it has held ever since. In 2020, the South Korean brand sold 73,620 vehicles in the country.
The brand hopes that the Mexican market will quickly assimilate the transformation of the brand. He already has. “Every day I open the curtain and see the logo. I think that from seeing it so much I am completely in love. I love that it is a logo that does not have a limit, it does not have any frame. Just like the new vision of the brand ”, he concludes.
