"By changing our basic design focus, we have given our brand a face, a distinctive identity”. The words of Kia’s Chief Design Officer Peter Schreyer as Kia Motors made off with four design awards in the first ever  Automotive Brand Contest.

The judging panel declared Kia Motors the worthy winner in two categories.

In the Brand Design category, where strategy and focus of the brand’s overall design is rated, Kia was ranked ‘Best of Best’.

For the Exterior category, in which the design of the vehicle itself is the centre of attention, three Kia models were picked as winners:  the compact Sportage CUV, the forthcoming Rio B-segment model; scheduled to go on sale from this Fall in most global markets; and the all-new, athletic D-segment Kia Optima sedan.

The Kia Optima and Kia Sportage have already been awarded prestigious design prizes: the red dot award (Kia Optima: ‘best of the best’) and the iF product design award.

This new international brand and design competition was organised by the Rat für Formgebung (German Design Council), which is also responsible for the Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (German Design Award).

"We are all exceedingly proud that Kia Motors has done so well in this new competition, which is very important within the automotive industry," says Kia’s Chief Design Officer Peter Schreyer..

According to the Design Chief, "the ‘Best of Best’ title for Kia’s new design identity in the Brand Design category is a great endorsement of the creative and professional work done by our entire international design team”.

He said too, that the latest awards conferred on the Sportage and Optima, and the very first one to go to their latest model, the Rio, reflect the continuity of their  efforts to uphold their  own high design standards.

“All four awards are a fantastic acknowledgement of our strategy to position design as a core Kia brand promise”,  Schreyer admitted.