Kia's Song Ho-sung: "3.22 Million Units Sold This Year... Achieving Highest Profit and Corporate Value"

Shareholder Letter Ahead of the Meeting on the 14th
Operating Profit Projected at 12.4 Trillion KRW... Operating Margin at 11%
"Mass-Market EV Models... PBV and Pickup Trucks as New Growth Engines"

Song Hoseong, CEO of Kia, projected that new car sales this year will reach 3.22 million units, an increase of 130,000 units compared to the previous year. He also emphasized maintaining industry-leading profitability and corporate value.

In a shareholder letter sent on the 4th ahead of the shareholders' meeting scheduled for the 14th, CEO Song stated, "We will recover from production disruptions caused by facility transitions and supply chain issues last year and enter a full-fledged new car launch cycle, led by the Indio Siros."

Kia President Song Ho-sung is making a presentation at the Kia EV Day held on the 24th of last month (local time) at the Tarraco Arena located in Tarragona, Spain. (Photo by Kia)

CEO Song further forecasted operating profit of 12.4 trillion KRW and an operating margin of 11%, despite conservative exchange rate assumptions in preparation for intensified global competition and external uncertainties.

He said, "Last year was a challenging year with macroeconomic risks such as a slowdown in global economic growth and high interest rates, intensified competition among companies, delays in consumers' electric vehicle (EV) purchases, and China's global expansion leveraging price competitiveness," adding, "Through strengthened product competitiveness and expansion of the product portfolio including hybrid and mass-market EV launches, Kia's wholesale sales recorded 3.09 million units."

He continued, "With an increase in the sales proportion of high value-added vehicles, revenue rose 7.7% year-on-year to 107.4 trillion KRW, surpassing 100 trillion KRW in revenue for the first time in history," and added, "In terms of profitability, we achieved a record-high operating profit of 12.7 trillion KRW and the highest profitability of 11.8%, proving robust core business competitiveness."

He particularly announced that as the next step in the electrification strategy, Kia will launch mass-market models that enable a full EV transition beyond flagship models.

CEO Song explained, "Starting with the EV3 in 2024, we plan to sequentially launch the EV4, EV5, and EV2 by 2026 to complete the full lineup of mass-market models," adding, "The full lineup of mass-market models will secure parity with internal combustion engine vehicles in terms of total cost of ownership (TCO), allowing consumers to experience Kia EVs' outstanding performance at reasonable prices, thereby actively leading EV popularization."

He also stated that purpose-built vehicles (PBV) and pickup trucks will be secured as new growth engines. CEO Song introduced, "PBVs are all-round players that can respond to various purposes such as passenger, delivery, sales, and leisure," and added, "Based on over 40 years of accumulated experience and capabilities in the special vehicle business, which is a customized vehicle manufacturing business, we plan to provide a three-dimensional customer-tailored mobility experience."

He further said, "Entering the pickup segment with the launch of the Tasman is another example demonstrating Kia's innovation and spirit of challenge," and expressed expectations, "The Tasman will not only become a key growth engine that further expands Kia's solid market dominance in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions but also contribute to strengthening special vehicle business capabilities, creating synergy between existing and new businesses."

Additionally, CEO Song explained, "The next-generation software-defined vehicle (SDV), targeted for development completion in 2026, will be introduced as a vehicle integrating hardware and software by combining autonomous driving and connectivity on an electric-electronic architecture and vehicle OS platform, and will be applied to mass production models thereafter."

Regarding autonomous driving, the core function of SDV, he introduced that they are developing core full autonomous driving technologies through Motional. He said, "Motional, which has started test drives in Las Vegas and Pittsburgh, will soon expand to major U.S. cities, accelerating the realization of full autonomous driving."

CEO Song emphasized, "A crisis acts as an opportunity for those who are prepared," adding, "The upcoming geopolitical fluctuations and regulatory barriers will also serve as opportunities for Kia, which has secured competitiveness in eco-friendly vehicle models and agile and flexible business and production system restructuring capabilities, to expand its relative position in the market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.