Kia is a leading brand in design. In addition to transmitting the brand's image and being one of the keys to the success of the brand's range of models, design is another way of providing quality and durability to a car. Kia models stand out for using a clear and avant-garde design language, which has been recognized with the most prestigious awards, with more than 20 iF Design Awards since 2010 and 25 Red Dot Awards.
This commitment to design began with the creation of the Kia design center in Namyang, Korea, in 1977. This center is responsible for all aspects of vehicle design, from design planning and conceptualization to styling development. , modeling, color and materials. Created in 2007, the Kia Design Center in Frankfurt) took over from Kia's Eschborn (Germany) facility and has a specialized team of designers creating the concept cars of the future and production models for Europe and beyond. the global market. Located in Irvine, California, the Kia US Design Center opened in 2003 and is helping to shape the future of driving.
Another key factor that has influenced the quality of Kia's design is the commitment to talent, with a multicultural and multidisciplinary team of designers, who research in fields such as industrial/visual design, aesthetics, philosophy, free arts, psychology, history or artificial intelligence. The signing of Peter Schreyer, in 2006, as head of design at KIA, was a great boost to the globalization of the brand's design. The arrival of Karim Habib at the head of the brand's design in October 2019 has marked a new step forward in Kia's signature design excellence and its future strategy.
Kia presented its first concept car to the public in 2001. The KVC-I already showed many ideas ahead of its time, a trend that has been maintained for more than two decades in all the concepts launched by the brand to show its future trends in design. . The last to arrive was the spectacular EV9 Concept, which symbolizes the brand's leadership in the design and development of attractive vehicles, with cutting-edge technology and zero emissions.