By Soon-Nam Lee
Director, Overseas Marketing Group, Kia Motors Corporation

Reading the business pages this time of year does not lend itself to Christmas cheer and optimism for 2009.  2008 was by no means perfect for Kia and there’s a lot we still have to improve on but I’d like to share with Kia family and friends my personally selected list of ten great things we achieved this year:

1. The exciting, all-new urban cross over Soul is launched globally to be rolled out in most markets early in 2009
2. We become the world’s fifth largest automaker, along with Hyundai
3. We bypass 2007 global sales volumes in November this year
4. Our global brand ambassador, Rafael Nadal, becomes world number one after winning Wimbledon for the first time
5. The Kia cee’d becomes the most decorated Korean car of all-time in Europe in early 2008
6. We receive the President’s Award for Design at the Korea Design Awards in recognition of the achievements of our design-centered management strategy, implemented in multiple stages since 2006
7. The Optima (known as Magentis in some markets) joins the cee’d in receiving an official 5-star safety rating in the US
8. We win Car Company of Year from the UK’s oldest automotive publication, Autocar
9. We open another dedicated design center in the US and the construction of the new production facility in Georgia remains on track
10. Kia BUZZ celebrates its one-year anniversary and is awarded by the Korean Public Relations Association

Although we will never rest on your laurels, it is important to point out the positives and take stock of our successes.  I hope everyone takes this to heart, celebrates their achievements and looks to build on these successes in the New Year.

By Kia BUZZ editorial team

This just in, folks… Santa Claus was spotted this Christmas Eve taking a joy ride in his brand new Christmas Soul. It turns out the urban crossover is more than just for city driving. It looks like he left his reindeer at home for this quick spin around Kia headquarters in Seoul but will be back at the North Pole in time for his journey around the world later tonight.

Drive safely, Santa… we look forward to a Soulful Christmas this year.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

By Yun Tae Kim
Assistant Manager, Labor Relations Planning Team

A warm breeze is sweeping through labor-management relations at Kia Motors.

Many Kia employees and customers abroad may harbor some concerns that labor relations at Kia Motors are marred by conflict and struggle. Well, that has been true to a certain extent, but there may no longer be need to worry anymore, as labor and management recently made important progress in forging a more cooperative relationship.

For one, we concluded and announced a new labor-management accord on December 4th. Under the agreement, we decided to set up a flexible production system and adopt a “mixed production” structure that will enable us to quickly and effectively respond to market demands. This has allowed Kia to concentrate on compact cars, which are enjoying a rise in demand amidst the recent global economic turmoil. Thanks to the mixed production scheme and spirit of cooperation, the Rio compact passenger car began to be manufactured at Sohari Plant #1 for the first time ever on December 12. The plant is actually the production base for the Carnival (also known as Sedona) minivan.

The accord is also significant in that labor and management agreed to work together to overcome the economic crisis. The agreement is particularly meaningful, considering the usual hardliner stance of auto workers unions. This significant shift in labor relations is also evident in recent extensive media coverage which has included many positive articles on Kia’s labor-management ties.

Another notable sign of improved relations is joint volunteer activities conducted by labor and management. On December 5th, the two sides jointly donated funds and provisions worth 150 million won (approx. US$116,000) to people facing financial hardship. Representatives from both sides visited the homes of the needy to personally deliver coal briquettes, ramen, rice and other staples. They say the joint undertaking was a rewarding experience.

This is just the beginning and much more remains to be done. Still, the combined effort by labor and management to tackle the current crisis and joint social contribution activities will contribute to advancing Kia Motors. To go from a good company to a great company, we have to set a good example in labor-management relations and social contribution, in addition to securing the basic competencies as an automaker.

Although the auto industry is facing an uncertain future due to the global economic slump, everyone at Kia believes we can overcome this crisis and become a world leading car maker. That’s because every one of us at Kia, including union members, are fulfilling their respective roles to fuel the continued growth of Kia Motors.

Let’s have faith in Kia’s future. And let’s create a “new Kia.”

By Hyun Jin Cho
Sustainability Management Team
Kia Motors Corporation

The whole world is reeling from the effects of the global recession. For the global economy, it’s already ‘winter’ and the winter cold (here in Korea, anyways) has just begun. Still, we can’t just stay curled up and avoid the chill as there’s much to do before spring arrives. Only those who are prepared will be able to welcome the new season.

Much of the efforts made by automakers to prepare for the new season is centered around environmentally friendly cars. Even companies facing very tough times have expressed their intent to invest more in developing green vehicles. They are driven by the faith that innovative, eco-friendly cars will stir up a warm breeze.

Kia Motors is continuing its own efforts to usher in a new spring. Among those activities, I would like to talk about the creation of a system to assess the performance of hydrogen fuel cells.

The system was set up jointly with Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in November in the neutron radiography facility (NRF) of Hanaro, a nuclear reactor developed for research purpose. An environment is created in which a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), which has high energy conversion efficiency and is environmentally friendly, generates electricity in much the same way it would when a car is being driven. The system then makes real-time observations of what happens inside the fuel cell using the neutron imaging technique.

PEMFC is a kind of fuel cell that produces electricity from an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Chemical energy is directly converted into electrical energy, rather than thermal. This results in high efficiency with virtually no pollution. Complicated water management is vital to enhancing the performance of PEMFC. Performance will weaken notably if too much or too little water is generated during the electricity production process, and an efficient cooling channel must be set up to prevent performance loss caused by heat during the operation of the fuel cell.

The neutron imaging technique is the only method for directly observing what happens inside a fuel cell which is covered by a metal membrane. The neutron image produced by the fuel cell observation system will accurately reveal the amount and distribution of water inside the fuel cell. This should help with efforts to optimize the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen and adjust the amount of humidity, temperature and pressure when injecting hydrogen and oxygen. That, in turn, will lead to enhanced performance and design of fuel cells.

This is the fourth time that a system like this has been developed to verify fuel cell performance using a nuclear reactor. The others were set up in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Penn State University (PSU) of the U.S. and Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) of Switzerland.

Another major step has been made toward the introduction of vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Such steps will bring us closer to the day when zero emissions cars become common sights on our roads.

By Mike Torpey
Senior Designer, Kia Design Center America

Hello Kia BUZZ Fans!

I am excited to be sharing with you the story of the original design process that created the Kia SOUL Concept Car. My name is Mike Torpey, and I’m a member of the Kia America Design Center in Irvine, California.

Within the automotive world, Concept Cars are essentially the “supermodels” of the automotive design’s “fashion runway.” They may be beautiful or bizarre — they’re a carmaker’s “anything goes” flights of fancy, hints at future possibilities, and test-beds of fresh new ideas. But as inspiring and exciting as they are, rarely do they go beyond pure fantasy and become real production vehicles… though it sometimes does happen!

In early 2005, as a new member of Tom Kearns’ American Kia Design Team, I was fortunate to be chosen and sent on assignment to Kia’s Namyang, Korea Design Headquarters to join and collaborate with the fast-paced studio where the evolution of the Kia Soul was rapidly spinning up. Time to learn to speak Korean!!!!

Springboarding off the brainstorming of both American and Korean Product Teams, Design Staff had a sharp and inspiring mantra for the project – “Dynamic Energy, Function, and Strength, in a small footprint!” And yet, like is seemingly the case with all worthwhile projects, time was short!

As Designers, we often find that having a short time frame to design forces us to make strong, quick decisions, and rely heavily upon our intuition. And the results are often that much more pure. This was indeed the case with the Soul.

From the beginning, I envisioned a strong, bold character with lots of attitude and interestingly, the tough and clever little Boar’s dramatic, sloping-down-from-front-to-rear side silhouette was easy to adopt…..the bold nose…..the front skidplate, evocative of the “tusks” on a boar, and of course the defiant, well-planted stance. Adding a backpack to this little tough guy made for a truly unique image of “rugged capability with attitude,” and the personality was born.

Intrigued with the idea of a continuous, unbroken “race track” design surface, unfolding like a ribbon and defining much of the vehicle’s shapes and forms, I found that as I began to design it, the SOUL almost began to sketch itself. I was really keen to get a feeling of friendly optimism into the curves and shape vocabulary, yet still have the vehicle feel mature and sophisticated…..if that makes any sense.  I think that is a key to part of the vehicle’s real “Soul,” at least for me. Optimistic Sophistication! :)

     <Mike Torpey with Chief Coordinator Mr. Moon>

Working together with the Korean designers and sculptors on the development of the concept, and finally merging the exterior and interior, we seemed to be “on the same page” with each other right away.  What a great experience!

Seriously —The fact that you all loved the SOUL concept so much is why it is here today as a very special, real production vehicle. Thank you!!! I hope you all enjoy it just as much going into the future, as a car you can all own and drive, creating your own memories and experiences with. The car really does seem to have its own little “Soul,” I do think!

So what’s next for Soul? Stay tuned! :)