Woo-Park (co-CEO)-- ABOUT KIA MOTORS South Korea’s oldest car company, Kia was founded on June 9, 1944 as a manufacturer of steel tubing and bicycle parts by hand – and has operated as one of the country’s Chaebols since then. In 1951 Kia began building complete bicycles. In 1952, Kia changed its name from Kyungsung Precision Industry, and later built motorcycles (starting in 1957), trucks (1962) and cars (1974). The company opened its first integrated automotive assembly plant in 1973, the Sohari Plant. Kia built the small Brisarange of cars until 1981, when production came to an end after the military dictator Chun Doo- hwan enforced industry consolidation, meaning Kia had to give up passenger cars and focus entirely on light trucks. ACHIEVEMENTS OF KIA MOTORS: Kia's safety innovation is apparent by our wide selection of vehicles awarded the 2018 NHTSA 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score. This year Kia vehicles were recognized by J.D. Power for both quality and performance . Kia lineup was awarded 2 quality awards (Sorento and Rio) and 2 performance awards (Rio and Stinger). Today, Kia produces more than 1.4 million vehicles a year at 14 manufacturing and assembly operations in eight countries. These vehicles are sold and serviced through a network of more than 3,000 distributors and dealers covering 172 countries. The Corporation has more than 40,000 employees and annual revenues of more than US$17 billion. MAJOR MODELS: Kia K900 Kia Borrego Kia Carnival Kia Cadenza sedan Kia Forte Kia Seltos Kia Electric Niro KIA K900