Kia to Share in Joint Focus on Green Growth

WEYBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM – July 27, 2009: Kia will bring a raft of “green” vehicles to Europe as part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group’s commitment to develop environmental technology.

Announcing nearly £2 billion of investment (4 trillion Korean Won) in “green growth” the group has said it is aiming to become one of the world’s top four manufacturers of low emission vehicles by 2012 – the date it has slated for the introduction of fuel cell electric vehicles on the Korean market.

And Kia will be fully involved in this process with petrol and diesel hybrid vehicles set to follow the introduction of its emission-reducing cee’d ISG models within the next two years. Kia is also working on plug-in hybrids and has some of the most advanced fuel cell vehicles operating anywhere in the world. These vehicles will be exported within a couple of years of their introduction into the domestic market.

Mr Sun Yung Kim, President of Kia Motors Europe said: “The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group is determined to bring affordable and usable green technology to the European consumer and our introduction of cee’d ISG and other environmentally friendly technologies clearly shows that we have a firm grip on our plans for a green future.

“We expect the demand for environmentally friendly and low emission vehicles will pick up strongly as the global market emerges from the current recession and we are determined to be ready to meet that demand from our customers.

“We already have one of the most environmentally friendly production plants at Zilina in the Slovak Republic and in Korea we have the world’s only dedicated environmental research and development facility at Mabuk. Along with investment in technology the company has also announced a big increase in the number of green R&D engineers and specific investment in developing fuel cell technology for cost-effective production,” he added.

Kia already has fuel cell development vehicles operating in various locations including California and its latest-generation test bed is capable of covering more than 350 miles on a single charge of hydrogen and starting at temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees Centigrade – both essential for normal everyday use around the world. Kia and Hyundai are providing real-life test vehicles to various Government bodies in Korea and are committed to developing fuel cell vehicles that can be easily built on traditional production lines by 2015.

The investment in green technology represents a significant part of overall investment of £4.53 billion (9.3 trillion Korean Won) announced by the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group.