Car giant’s embarrassing fail

The South Korean brand changed its logo at the start of 2021 as it entered its new electrified era.

Kia’s global CEO, Ho Sung Song said at the time: “The automotive industry is experiencing a period of rapid transformation, and Kia is proactively shaping and adapting to these changes. Our new logo represents our desire to inspire customers as their mobility needs evolve, and for our employees to rise to the challenges we face in a fast-changing industry.”

The new logo was slowly rolled out across its model range over the following months.

Embarrassingly, Twitter user @Shwinnabego showed that the recent logo change was “unreadable”.

It turns out people weren’t reading Kia but instead seeing “KN”or K and a backward N.

This was backed up by Google search data in November that showed at least 30,000 people have searched for “KN car” each month since the logo debuted.

Research by marketing company Distinctive Bat showed that Google searches for “KN car” have increased steadily as the new logo rolls out on more cars.

Results of a survey conducted by the company showed only 50 per cent of people could recognise the new logo compared to 86 per cent for the old one.

And one in four people couldn’t correctly attribute the new logo to Kia.

Despite the confusion Kia is having the last laugh.

The South Korean brand is on a tear in Australia, shading some of the heavyweight brands with strong growth despite stock shortages.

Kia sold more than 78,000 vehicles in 2022, a 15 per cent increase compared to 2021.

Kia is now the third most popular car brand in Australia, overtaking long-time favourites Mitsubishi, Ford and its sister brand Hyundai in 2022.

Only Toyota and Mazda sell more cars in Australia.

Its first electric car, the EV6, has been met with rave reviews and long wait lists as buyers line-up for the zero-emissions vehicle.A performance variant, the EV6 GT, will launch soon.

Nearly every model in its line-up experienced positive growth throughout the year at a time when supply chains were strained and demand far outstripped supply across the industry.