Kia Motors announces ‘Plan S’ strategy to spearhead transition to EV, mobility solutions by 2025

Kia Motors Corporation has announced today details of ‘Plan S’, its mid- to long-term strategy aimed at progressively establishing a leadership position in the future automotive industry, encompassing mobility services and vehicle electrification, connectivity and autonomy.

Plan S outlines Kia’s preemptive and enterprising ‘shift’ from a business system focused on internal combustion engines toward one centered on electric vehicles and customized mobility solutions. This two-track strategy is designed to facilitate Kia’s brand innovation and enhance profitability.

Alongside Kia’s 2025 financial and investment strategy, details of Plan S were announced to shareholders, analysts and credit-rating agencies at the company’s CEO Investor Day in Seoul today.

By the end of 2025, Kia plans to offer a full line-up of 11 battery electric vehicles. With these models Kia is looking to achieve a 6.6% share of the global EV market while also attaining a 25% share of its sales for its eco-friendly cars. With the global EV market expected to gain strength by 2026, Kia is aiming for 500,000 annual EV sales and global sales of 1 million eco-friendly vehicles (excluding China).

Alongside these objectives, Kia will offer EV-based mobility services as part of its new business model, helping solve global urban problems such as environmental pollution. In the Purpose Built Vehicle (PBV) market, anticipated to grow on the back of expanding car-sharing and e-commerce businesses, the company will secure leading-edge competitiveness.

Plan S will see Kia Motors invest a total of 29 trillion won (US $25 billion) by the end of 2025 to establish leadership in vehicle electrification and diversify its business. By the end of this period, Kia Motors is targeting a 6% operating profit margin and 10.6% return on equity (ROE) ratio to secure the necessary capital and maximize shareholder value.
As the two strategic objectives of Plan S, Kia will concentrate on (1) leading the popularization of electric vehicles, and (2) expanding mobility services for electric and autonomous vehicles, as well as entering the PBV business.

The company will pursue innovations across the board, encompassing brand identity, corporate identity, design identity and user experience, among other fields. Kia aims to enable customers to directly experience, feel and understand the company’s evolution as an enterprise championing EVs and mobility solutions.

Kia’s new brand system, which is slated to be revealed in October, is currently being formulated under clear objectives. This includes becoming a pioneer in the age of EVs, a brand beloved by the millennial generation (those with a good grasp of information technology born between the early 1980s and early 2000s, a period witnessing the transition from the analog to the digital era) and Z generation (those born after the mid-1990s and grown up largely in a digital environment with a natural inclination for using digital tools, hence their nickname, ‘digital natives’), and a symbol of challenge and innovation.

At the same time, the company plans to maximize shareholder value and win more trust from the market by steadily strengthening its competitiveness through innovations in existing businesses, as well as by increasing profitability of future businesses.