Editor's letter: How Kia's president brings Toyota-like confidence
Ho Sung Song has led a dramatic brand reinvention since he took the reins in 2020
Despite being vast industrial global companies, car makers can still have the impact of an individual felt.
Toyota is a great example, the premiership of the effervescent Akio Toyoda throughout the 2010s adding a previously unimaginable human side to this most corporate of car firms.
The main figure at the heart of Kia’s rise this century was designer Peter Schreyer, who was positioned as de facto leader of the company and successfully moved the Korean firm from a dowdy budget brand to a more aspirational mainstream one.
Kia now has another charismatic individual moving it forward again: Ho Sung Song, Kia's president and CEO.
He took the top job in 2020 after 13 years at the company and has overseen a new brand image that’s shaken Kia’s budget feel for good. Song has used the introduction of EVs to go even bolder; the likes of the EV6 and EV9 can see off far more costly and staid rivals, while the EV3 feels good enough to become a Volkswagen Golf-style default choice in the electric era.
Kia is making BMWs for the people (its latest design boss Karim Habib is formerly of Munich…) while still very happy to fill the void left by Ford in making cars at volume. More impressively, Kia’s ceiling for making larger and more expensive cars that people are willing to buy and can be sold profitably feels much higher than Ford’s.
It’s easy to see why Kia has so much confidence when you spend time in Song’s company. Friendly and hospitable, Song will answer questions honestly and directly and knows how the world works outside Korea; his stints in several major global markets including the UK for his previous employer Hyundai helped shape that.
Tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars imported into the EU are “fair game” to counter state support, while the UK’s controversial mandate on the sale of electric cars is a good thing in Song’s eyes as it ultimately forces the market. He sees city cars as an essential part of a manufacturer’s offering to ensure cars are accessible and affordable in the electric era, so is desperate to launch a sub-€20,000 model by 2030.
He’ll just as happily talk golf; like many Koreans, Song is a golf nut and plays to a single-digit handicap even as a CEO working 12-hour days.
‘Why not?’ often comes back as the response when further challenges or markets to enter are put to Song, but for now the next horizon is vans.
In January, Kia revealed plans for a new family of electric vans that will start to see production late next year, sold in dedicated van dealerships.
It's a good time and a good way to get into the van market, as while electric propulsion is the mandated future, it will stay a minority choice for longer than cars, due to cost and range issues in a sector where time on the road and total cost of ownership are everything.
While Europe is the focus for vans, they can have an impact elsewhere. When Song looks outside the window of his EV9 (he uses the massaging seats as an antidote to Seoul’s terrible traffic) he wouldn’t see a van at all, rather small trucks with different beds on the back and a cab on the front.
The likes of the Hyundai Porter and Kia Bongo are among Korea’s best-selling vehicles, yet crash safety regulations will kill them off from 2027, and Kia senses an opportunity here for the likes of the PV5, too. Something will need to replace them, and why not the PV5?
Kia can start small, learn and build as the electric van market grows, although taking on Ford here is perhaps Kia’s biggest task yet. Though as one company official told me, Kia’s goal is never to match the best, but to beat it.