We all want a nice, reliable car, and with the economy still recovering and gas prices constantly on the rise, it seems more important now than ever. Car companies have picked up on this, and are now advertising their reliability and gas mileage, but which claims are legitimate and which are built on smoke and mirrors.
One car company that’s coming under close scrutiny is Kia. Opened in Seoul near the end of WWII, Kia is a Korean company that has come into its own and now has customers around the world.
Like all companies, Kia claims to be one of the best out there, but is there merit to these claims? Are Kias reliable? We’ll look at this closely in the paragraphs below.
Are Kias Reliable?
Are Kias reliable? In short, yes. Despite having a short-lived presence outside of Asia so far, Kia has made some huge inroads in terms of safety and reliability.
When Kia first went worldwide it billed itself as the best value option. They did this by making the car so cheap that it didn’t need to be particularly safe or reliable to have the best value.
Over time, though, Kia has been making vast improvements and is now consistently winning awards for safety. Not only that, but it is showing up on almost every list of the best car brands.
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However, Kia’s rise to fame is far from an isolated event. Most surveys show that Asian companies have been dominating the automotive market for several years now. Much of their success can be traced back to the late 1940s.
After WWII, Japan was struggling economically, so they had to use outdated supplies in many industries. This gave them an unexpected advantage. Because they were not producing cars as quickly, they were making fewer mistakes.
Most mistakes were found and fixed before they became much of a problem. This gave Japanese cars a reputation for reliability.
It didn’t take long to realize that reliability was working in their favor. Additional experiments and innovations in manufacturing allowed them to advance beyond their competitors.
Various economic crises have only helped business. People now need cars that are cheaper and last longer, which is what Japanese companies, and now Kia, pride themselves on. There’s no problem with wanting a more affordable car, and if you know how to, there are ways to get the most out of a car deal.
Kia and Hyundai, being Korean, trod a different path, but ended up in a similar place. Both were considered almost worthless until 2006. One of Audi’s best designers switched teams to Kia.
For Hyundai, the story starts in 1998, when they bought part of Kia. With Kia vastly improving after 2006, so was Hyundai.
Why Are Kias Reliable?
Are Kias reliable? Absolutely, but why is a more difficult question. Kia has a lot going for it, from good designers to an economic struggle, which makes affordable, reliable cars desirable. Regardless, it now wins the most prestigious car awards out there every single year.
This isn’t necessarily a new development. Korean cars have been on an upswing since the mid-2000s, but Japan has played a huge role in the market since long before.
A lot of their success has to do with reliability. Much like Kia, they set to make a certain type of car that excelled in a few fields and stuck with it.
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