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

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

The Plan S strategy outlines Kia’s preemptive and enterprising ‘shift’ from a business system focused on internal combustion engine vehicles toward one centered on electric vehicles and customized mobility solutions. The company’s ongoing brand innovation and profitability enhancement will support the two-track Plan S strategy targeting the shift toward electric and autonomous vehicles as well as mobility services.

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.

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 (excluding China), while also attaining a 25% share of its sales from 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’: Kia’s second-generation future businesses
Preemptive transition
to EVs Lead popularization of EVs
 Launch a dedicated BEV model in 2021
 Establish a full EV line-up of 11 models and reach a 6.6% global EV market share by 2025
 Sell 500,000 BEVs and one million eco-friendly vehicles by 2026
 Simultaneously offer derivative EV models and dedicated models with differentiated pricing and specification
 Nurture key developed markets as major bases for EVs; achieve a 20% sales share out of all Kia models by 2025
 Selectively introduce EV models in emerging markets; and raise sales of ICE vehicles
 Adopt development system for EV architecture 
 Achieve EV sales innovation
Provision of customized mobility solutions Pursue mobility services based on electric and autonomous vehicles, enter PBV business
 Establish Mobility Hubs in cities with stricter environmental regulations and greater use of EVs; and provide eco-friendly mobility services
 Explore new business models such as logistics and car maintenance via Mobility Hubs
 Operate mobility services based on electric and autonomous vehicles in the long term
 Lead PBV markets for corporate clients; offer customized PBVs for target customers

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 auto industry undergoes turbulent changes, today is also an opportune time for Kia Motors to radically transform itself into a global enterprise dedicated to spearheading customer value-led innovations,” said Kia Motors President and CEO Han-woo Park. “Kia Motors will actively innovate to take on the challenges ahead, identifying and capitalizing on new opportunities to propel the company forward.”

CEO Park added: “Plan S is a bold and enterprising roadmap for Kia’s future business transition, buttressed by the two pillars of electric vehicles and mobility solutions. Our approach is to put customers first, and Kia will reinvigorate its brand innovation by developing products and services that offer new experiences for customers.”

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 feel, experience, 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 the second half of this year, 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 innovation of existing businesses, as well as by increasing profitability of future businesses.