Like most major automakers, Kia’s well on its way to transitioning to an electric vehicle manufacturer. To give visual weight to its commitment, Kia redesigned its corporate logo in 2021, ditching the homely oval badges in favor of a futuristic nameplate. The new look has been out in the wild for a while now, but it seems to be causing real confusion among people reading it as “KN” instead of “KIA.”
Whether they are trying to read the badge on the back of a new EV6 or staring at it from different angles on a screen, people seem puzzled about Kia’s new logo. Twitter user Ashwinn Krishnaswamy did some digging and found that people started searching for “KN” shortly after Kia debuted the new logo. Momentum for the search term has grown to the point that around 30,000 people search for “KN Car” every month.
Autoblog reached out to Kia for comment but did not hear back from the team responsible for the logo design. Despite that, it’s hard to imagine feeling too badly about the mixup because it’s got people talking about Kia. If someone sees the logo and Googles it for more info, the search engine recognizes that they’re looking for Kia and directs them to the automaker’s catalog.
Kia just adopted the logo, so it’s unlikely to change. Besides, the vehicles behind the logos are more important, and on that front, Kia’s winning. The EV6 is widely regarded as a fantastic EV, and the Carnival is a champion family hauler. Let’s hope that no one decides to start an actual KN auto brand to kick up real confusion.
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About the author
Chris Teague
News Editor, Autoblog