Name: Kia’s New Branding Strategy Looks to Compete in the EV Era
Uploaded: 2022-12-12T10:30:00Z
Duration: 7 min
Description: Kia overhauled its look in 2021 in the hopes of cultivating a more upmarket image as electric vehicles take center stage in the industry. The Wall Street Journal breaks down Kia’s efforts to change consumers’ perceptions of the brand. Illustration: Ryan Trefes

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Kia overhauled its look in 2021 in the hopes of cultivating a more upmarket image as electric vehicles take center stage in the industry. The Wall Street Journal breaks down Kia’s efforts to change consumers’ perceptions of the brand. Illustration: Ryan Trefes

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Kia’s New Branding Strategy Looks to Compete in the EV Era

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.

Announcer: 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 sort of thing that teens might get as their first car.

Narrator: Here's what some consumers said they thought about Kia.

Just a standard car.

Value for money product.

Narrator: But according to surveys by the research firm, JD Power, the quality of Kia cars has been improving for years.

In the early 2000's, 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 eye sore 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 the 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 maker 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 sort of 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 seemed to be by comparison, doing this at breakneck speed.

Narrator: So how has Kia's business changed since it unveiled its rebrand in January, 2021?

Clearly, Kia is on a roll. They had their best 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 its 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 touchpoints that will add up to this macro feeling in the marketplace over time. 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.