Kia can beat Chinese brands in quality: CEO Song Ho-sung

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Kia can beat Chinese brands in quality: CEO Song Ho-sung

Published: 27 Feb. 2025, 17:00

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Kia CEO Song Ho-sung, right, speaks during an interview with the Korean press on the sidelines of Kia’s EV Day held in Tarragona, Spain, on Feb. 24. [KIA]

TARRAGONA, Spain — With Chinese auto brands slowly conquering the world, Kia is self-assuredly able to beat Chinese brands in terms of quality, CEO Song Ho-sung says.

“Chinese brands are challenging legacy automakers, but Kia can handle it with our quality and service,” Song said during an interview with the Korean press on the sidelines of Kia’s EV Day held in Tarragona, Spain, on Monday.

“Korean and Chinese brands have about 20 percent price gap and we can never overcome the price gap,” Song said. “But Kia has better quality and service than Chinese brands with differentiated cars.”

The EV4, Kia first-ever electric sedan [KIA]

The head’s remarks came in line with made-in-China EVs expanding their presence globally, especially after BYD’s recent arrival in Korea’s passenger EV market. BYD launched the Atto 3 compact SUV at a highly affordable price tag of 31.5 million won ($22,000), even cheaper than Kia’s EV3, the cheapest option in its EV lineup.

More than 1,000 preorders were made in just a week of its introduction, with 99 percent of the customers choosing the more expensive version with a longer range.

“The Atto 3 is mostly for rental cars, I believe,” Song added. “Kia can fully confront the Atto 3 with our EV3 and EV4, whose sales will start in Korea in the second half.”

The EV2 concept, which will make its release in 2026 in Europe [KIA]

Kia debuted the EV4 electric sedan, which will also be available in a hatchback guise, on Monday during EV Day, another affordable EV option right after the EV3.

Korea will only get the sedan variant, while the hatchback is exclusive to European customers.

The Korean price of the EV4 has not been declared, but may be similar to its European price which starts from 37,000 euros ($38,700) or up.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]