By Cho, Hyun-jin
Sustainability Management Team




The 2nd World Baseball Classic (WBC) was held in March with 16 countries taking part in the tournament. Although the Korean team didn’t clinch ultimate victory, its second place finish reaffirmed that Korea, which won the baseball gold at the Beijing Olympics, is an emerging baseball powerhouse.

Kia Motors has played a part in advancing baseball in Korea as the sponsor of the Kia Tigers professional baseball team which has won the national championship more times than any other team in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). Founded as a KBO charter member in 1982, the Kia Tigers have won the Korean Series nine times to date.

An interesting point is that Kia Motors’ new “family look” (radiator grille) conjures up an image of a “tiger’s nose.” The tiger was not the initial model for this powerful design. Our intent was to create a DNA unique to Kia Motors. And after much thought and time, the “family look” was completed.

Although it wasn’t intentional, we ended up with the “tiger.” This suggests that a special link exists between the tiger and Kia.

I mentioned baseball at the start because my colleagues and I went to see a game recently for KIA Tigers Day. Kia Tigers Day, which launched in 2008 as part of the “New Kia” campaign. On this day, employees at the worksite level go see a Kia Tigers game and cheer on the team.

The game I saw took place on June 17. It was the second in a 3-game series against the league’s No.1 team. Although it was an away game for the Kia Tigers, it wasn’t much different from playing on home turf. The stadium was packed with Tigers fans.

Unfortunately, the Tigers lost 5 to 4. But I had a great time cheering them on with my colleagues. (Of note, Kia won the next day to take the series 2 to 1.)

The Tigers didn’t have a good year in 2008, so there was only one official outing to the stadium. But this year, I hope we’ll get a chance to hold another Kia Tigers Day in the fall. (The Kia Tigers are currently ranked 3rd in the league).

Kia Tigers website: http://www.tigers.co.kr/

By Vugar Isgandarov
Head of PR, Marketing and Advertising Department
Kia Motors Azerbaijan

Kia Motors Azerbaijan has always contributed to the prosperity and development of sports in Azerbaijan.  We have repeatedly sponsored different kinds of sports tournaments and rewarded winners with prizes and cars.

Kia Motors couldn’t stand on the sidelines when it came to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, an important international competition.  When they began, we got Olympic Fever and declared that we would give a Kia Rio to the first winner to get a gold medal for Azerbaijan. 

Now, with the excitement of the Beijing Olympics behind us, we are happy to announce that we lived up to our end of the bargain.  The first and only gold medalist from Azerbaijan for these Summer Games is known to everybody locally:  Elnur Mammadly, a Judoist at 74 kg, proudly representing the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Ending with complete victory ahead of time in the five alotted fights (less than five minutes per round), it took Elnur less than five minutes in most of his competitions to end each match!  To win the gold medal in his final fight, it took our sportsman only 13 seconds.  For such a grandiose victory on September 3rd, 2008, Kia Motors Azerbaijan decided to present him with a Kia Sportage instead of the promised Kia Rio, a slightly bigger upgrade for our upgraded winner! 

Presentation of the car was carried out in the showroom of Kia Motors Azerbaijan with the participation of leading Azerbaijani media companies and mass media.  The President of Kia Motors Azerbaijan, Mr. Faiq Safarov, who took part in the event, wished all the sportsmen of Azerbaijan good luck and declared that Kia Motors Azerbaijan will provide support to the sports sphere of Azerbaijan in the future.  As such, Kia Motors Azerbaijan granted free service and warranty for the gifted Kia Sportage as an extra gift to the Olympic champion until the 2012 Summer Olympic Games which will be held in London, England.

§ Congratulations to all the 2008 Summer Olympic athletes from Kia Motors and the Kia BUZZ! §