New Car Brand? Kia’s logo redesign makes people Googling for “KN Car”(PDF)

 

The South Korean manufacturer owned by Hyundai Motor Company is causing confusion among consumers after the new Kia logo (KN) was unveiled with a spectacular pyrotechnic display in January 2021. Over 200 unmanned aerial vehicles blew up in the sky above Incheon, Korea, and lit up Eastern Asia for 16 seconds, showing off the new logo and setting a Guinness World Record for “simultaneous UAV launch.

Kia logo before and after

The new Kia logo has stirred up quite a bit of controversy since its debut. Some people can’t tell what it is, and others are searching for “KN” on Google, due to the odd font and sizing. Twitter user Ashwinn Krishnaswamy, after doing some research, found out that the number of people who search for “KN Car” has been snowballing, reaching over 30,000 every month.

Ashwinn tweet about research for the KN car

 

Despite this, it’s hard to feel too bad about the mix-up because it’s getting people talking about Kia. If someone sees the logo and searches for it online, then Google will recognize that they’re looking for Kia and direct them to the automaker’s website.

Google Trends also shows that the confusion is not limited to the United States. Countries such as Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom have people searching for keywords like “KN SUV”, “KN car brand price”, “KN carnival car” and “What is KN car brand”. While there are over 30,000 monthly searches for the keyword “KN car”, the keyword “KIA” gets about 1.83 million on Google. 

Kia just adopted this new logo, so it’s unlikely it will ever change. Besides, vehicles are more important than the logos anyway, and on that front Kia is winning. Let’s hope nobody tries to create an actual KN auto brand and introduce more confusion into the mix.