Kia Motors was established
in 1944 as a manufacturer of bicycle parts, and began making motorcycles
in 1961. The company produced Korea’s first truck in 1971 and first passenger
car – the Brisa – in 1974. In 1975 the company also became the first Korean
exporter of motor vehicles, when the Brisa was sold in Greece and the
Middle East.
Other Kia innovations include
the first gasoline and diesel engines produced in Korea and the country’s
first integrated automobile production line.
The Kia name was adopted in 1952 and derives from two Chinese characters
– “ki” meaning “rising up” and “a” meaning Asia. Kia can therefore be
roughly translated as “Rising out of the East” or “Rising out of Asia.”
Today, Kia manufactures and sells
more than one million cars per year – making the company a little larger than
Mazda. Kia accounts for 37% of the total production capacity of the Hyundai
Automotive Group, the world’s seventh largest automobile manufacturer.
