Cars We Buy: Kia

Kia is a Korean car manufacturer founded in 1944. In the early days, Kia manufactured steel tubing and bicycle parts until they eventually produced bikes six years later. By 1962, Kia had developed light means of transport such as scooters and motorcycles before finally building their first cars by 1972 with help from Mitsubishi Motor Company Ltd's expertise on engines due to Korea not having any automobile manufacturers at the time.

Korea was an interesting place for young companies back then because it lacked experienced automotive engineers or facilities necessary for manufacturing vehicles; only motorcycle production existed when bike-building giant Suzuki opened its doors there in 1966 – but all that would change soon enough!

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Trouble began in the late '90 when the company became stagnant and thus unable to roll out new models. That's when Hyundai came into play. The major Korean car-builder got rid of competition through a merger. Both companies have experienced trouble and low sales due to reliability complaints about their vehicles.

The somewhat bland styling was not exactly what buyers were looking for in a car, so both had to undergo costly restructuring stages. Kia found itself rejuvenated by 2001 when, following its owner's example, it started working on a new vehicle line-up emphasising quality and long-warranty offerings. Ever since, Kia has been steadily conquering segments of the European market, especially through the Cee'd, Sorento and Rio models. The development of newer, bolder designs is also among Kia's priorities, predating a future line-up with the announcement of concepts such as the Soul, unveiled at the Montreal auto show in 2006 and the Kee, a fresh coupe boasting strongly appealing style elements.