Commentary

With K900, Kia Moves Up, Way Up

I went to see the "Annie" movie with my daughter, and it kind of made me think of Kia, which has big dreams of moving into a mansion. Kia: luxury brand. Seriously. Kia's K900 is, in fact official luxury vehicle of the NBA. Great ride, gorgeous car, Jaguar-esque even. You have to see it and drive it to appreciate it, which I got to do last week.

But first, I have to get something off my chest. It's the name. Is it the "K"? The "900"? I almost have a feeling the brand stewards in Seoul, patronizing the U.S. marketers, insisted that the Korean name for the car would work in the U.S. There are a couple of reasons I think the name's not evocative of luxury, or even of Kia. 

First, it's the only car in the lineup using an alpha-numeric designation. Second, in the U.S., for reasons I think may actually have to do with the Old English etymology, especially, ironically, the Germanic roots versus Latin, "K" just doesn't denote elegance and luxury the way "C" does. The letter "K" shouts, which is why marketers switch out the "C": Krystal, Keds, K-Y, Krispy, Kool, Kreme, Kars4Kids, K-Car. Third, K900 sounds a lot like K9, which is why I suspect nobody in Seoul listened to anyone in the U.S. on this. Fourth, it sounds to me like some prototype for a ‘50s-era military rocket plane that got shelved because the wings weren't glued on right. 

Okay, that said, now on to the car. I drove it last week and was flat-out amazed. It really is a luxury car in every respect, especially the contemporary sense, vis-à-vis surprising technology, intelligent layout, gorgeous interior, looks, and the very necessary surprise-and-delights. When I'm driving something around, I always like to get the crowd response, and in this case I had a lot of fun doing that. It was kind of the opposite of the recent Buick ad campaign, in which people say, "Where's the Buick?," when it's right in front of them. In this case, I got several "What! That's a Kia? No Way!" 

Kia has some nerve. This is not a car competing in the entry-luxury area, where mass-market brands play when they want to nudge themselves up market. It's up there near the luxury brand flagships. The car I had, the top trim, completely loaded, has an MSRP of $66,000. That puts it in there with a Mercedes E-Class, bare bones at $52,000. Or BMW's 5-Series, or Lexus GS, price wise, even though it's really a large car, not a mid-size.

And the car, with its trademark Kia "tiger nose" front grill, and a sleek Euro profile, looks like it belongs up there. No accident: Kia and Hyundai's chief designer is Peter Schreyer, a German who used to pen for Audi and sibling Volkswagen. 

All of which makes Kia, with its huge conceptual leap, a kind of bellwether for the up-market movement of mass-market autos, and their consequent collision with luxury brands moving into gateway vehicles. Not only are the luxury makers facing off with each other, they are also facing off against the top-trims from the likes of Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, Honda, Chevrolet, Ford and Chrysler, and brands in luxury's antechamber like Lincoln and Buick. I think this bodes not too well for the luxury brands. If Eminem can drive a Chrysler 200, or Matthew McConaughey a Lincoln, then what's in a (German) name, anyway?

And in a connected world, a seamless user interface and class-leading technology is, to some extent, anyway, a proxy for luxury as much as Connolly leather seats are, especially for younger buyers, who are also less besotted with logos (the Apple Watch must have Rolex sweating at least a little bit). Thus, can't Kia compete with anyone, theoretically? If I can get a Kia with white leather seats, more cameras than the CIA, retracting side mirrors, real woodgrain steering, great looks and huge torque, then really, do I need to spend more for the badge?

How low luxury can go in the entry-luxury wars is a whole other can of worms, but if a brand like Kia can convince luxury buyers that, hey, it can be as luxury as any luxury marque, then the traditional premium brands face a serious incursion, and not at the bottom end. Now, about that name ... 

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