Kia, which from now on will be called Kia Corporation after dropping the “Motors” moniker, is no stranger to spectacular stunts. The company recently pulled one for the Guinness World Records using “pyrodrones,” when it announced its reinvented logo. Now, it’s time for some actual strategy and a bit of teasing.
While we’re still trying to imagine the level of software prowess needed for the programming of 303 unmanned drones to display the new Kia logo in a record-breaking aerial firework display, the company is already focusing on more serious matters.
This is because the newly renamed Kia Corporation has shared - as promised - the first details about its future strategy through an online event. According to their new “Movement that inspires” slogan, the South Korean automaker is almost ready to “go beyond vehicle manufacturing.”
More than 75 years since creating its first vehicles (bikes, motorcycles, and trucks), the company wants to start developing a new range of products and services that will “meet growing demand from customers worldwide for flexible, customizable, individualized mobility solutions, enabled by data and new technologies.”
Kia, according to its long-term “Plan S” business strategy, will focus on electric vehicles, MaaS (mobility-as-a-service) solutions and services, as well as PBVs (purpose-built vehicles). The latter will be dedicated to corporate customers, with Kia aiming to become a provider of modular “skateboard” platforms that will be tailored according to demand – from creating car-sharing vehicles to logistics and delivery series.
Of course, the passenger car market won’t be forgotten, and Kia has prepared a host of shadowy teasers. The one depicting a family of nine vehicles most likely includes a host of PBVs, but there’s also room for the increasingly popular battery electric vehicles.
As such, we’re also treated to the announcement of the upcoming arrival of an entire “range of passenger vehicles, SUVs and MPVs across several segments,” each based on the Hyundai Motor Group’s new Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP).
The first will be a crossover EV (we tried to play with the pictures in the gallery to reveal a bit more) that’s scheduled for reveal during this very quarter, which is also based on the E-GMP architecture. Thanks to the newly developed and dedicated technology, the CUV is expected to arrive with a range of more than 500 kilometers (311 miles) and feature a 20-minute fast charging time.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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