Kia holds first Global Distributors Convention in 5 years

South Korea's Kia Corp. held a global distributors convention for the first time in five years, sharing medium to long-term business strategies, including the acceleration of electric vehicle sales and export expansion.

Kia announced on Friday that the event, themed "Connected by Inspiration," took place in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province over a four-day schedule, starting on Oct. 10.

For the first time since 2018 and the corporate name and image change in 2021, this convention had over 390 attendees, including representatives of regional headquarters from 140 countries around the world, subsidiary and distributor executives and their spouses.

Kia's President Song Ho-Sung emphasized the need for a comprehensive transformation in business operations for sustainable growth in his opening speech at the business conference. He highlighted the expansion of the business scope, contributions to eco-friendly carbon neutrality and a customer-centric brand.

The Kia management team shared their medium to long-term EV acceleration strategy with distributor executives, centered around the goal of selling globally 4.3 million conventional fuel vehicles and 1.6 million electric vehicles by 2030.

To achieve this, they plan to convert the AutoLand Gwangmyeong 2 factory into a dedicated electric vehicle production facility and increase the variety of electric vehicle models produced at AutoLand Hwaseong for export to countries across the world.

Kia's department heads presented key industry topics, such as strengthening the global supply chain, software-defined vehicles (SDV) and design philosophy.

During the convention, distributor executives visited the Namyang R&D Center, the R&D hub of the Hyundai Motor Group, and also attended the "Kia EV Day" event in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province.

"Despite the challenges of the COVID pandemic, this convention provided an opportunity to strengthen business partnerships that were difficult to establish during the pandemic period and to elevate the business spirit by sharing future strategies," said a Kia representative.

Write to Il-Gue Kim at black0419@hankyung.com