It's been a big year for updated car logos, with brands from BMW to Rolls-Royce revealing new designs. One of the slightly less luxury among them is Kia, which has been teasing a new look for months – and it seems the company is finally ready to unveil it officially.
We first spotted Kia's new logo back in December, when it cropped up in within a Korean trademark filing. Like many of 2020's new car logos, it's an example of flat design – although in this case it's a rather marked departure from the original.
Old (left) vs new (right) (Image credit: Kia/Future owns)
While the original was hardly going to turn up in our best logos list, thanks to its rather dated 3D glow and dull sans-serif type, the new design is much more sleek (and dare we say cool?). There's a sense of motion to the now joined-up sawtooth wave effect of the letters. Meanwhile, that redundant oval border is, thankfully, nowhere to be seen.
And now, Kia CEO Ho Sung Song has lifted the lid on an entire brand refresh coming next year. According to Automotive News, Song wants the brand to be "more dynamic, stylish, and inventive," with a stronger emphasis on electric vehicles. He calls the new look "Plan S," with the 'S' standing for 'Shift'.
The new logo has only appeared on a concept car so far (Image credit: Kia)
Until now, the new logo has only appeared on an electric concept car titled 'Imagine by Kia' (above), but Song has confirmed that it will make its way to production models in 2021 as "Plan S" begins in earnest. According to motor1, it could show up on a new car as early as next January.
While the likes of BMW and Nissan simply opted to flatten their existing logos, Kia has gone one step further with a bold reimagining of its design. We're fans of the sleek, joined-up look – a marked improvement on the previous offering. Whether it will prove memorable, however, remains to be seen – some car logos are more distinctive than others, as these car logos drawn from memory hilariously prove.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.
