Kia Venga wins prestigious ‘red dot’ design award

• New award marks Venga’s second design prize since its launch
• Kia’s design DNA is helping to change perceptions of the brand
• Kia Soul was first Korean car to win a ‘red dot’ award in 2009

On sale in Europe for just a few months, the Kia Venga has already won two design awards.  A top-class jury picked the B-segment MPV as a winner of the 2010 ‘red dot’ award in the ‘product design’ category.  The coveted red dot is acknowledged world-wide as a seal of quality for outstanding design.  

Kia’s compact MPV, which brings refreshing styling to a traditionally function-dominated market segment, has already received the prestigious iF product design award.  As a red dot award-winner, the Venga follows in the tyre tracks of the Kia Soul, which became the first-ever Korean car to receive the prestigious recognition of a design award in 2009.

“Our design teams can be truly proud of this additional red dot award.  It underscores the success of our design strategy,” says Peter Schreyer, Chief Design Officer at Kia Motors.  “B-segment MPVs have traditionally been a class of vehicle purchased for practical reasons.  The Kia Venga is changing that.  Its balanced architecture, spaci-ous interior and dynamic silhouette demonstrate that style and utility can make a per-fect match.  The Kia Venga is a car people will want to be seen in.”

Promoting good product design since 1955
The 2010 red dot international judging panel scrutinised 4,252 product entries from 57 countries.  The judges rated product performance against a list of nine core crite-ria: innovation, functionality, formal quality, ergonomics, durability, emotional impact, product accessories, ease-of-use and environmental compatibility.

Regarded as the world’s largest annual design competition, the red dot design award has its roots back in 1955 and has been an international design competition since 1991.  The driving force behind the red dot awards is Professor Dr. Peter Zec and the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany.  

The DZNW museum, which is housed in the former Zeche Zollverein colliery redesigned by British architect Lord Norman Foster in the late 1990s, is known locally as the ‘cathedral of industrial culture’ and attracts more than 140,000 visitors each year.

Editors’ Notes

Kia Motors Europe
Kia Motors Europe is the European sales, marketing, and service arm of Kia Motors Corporation.  With its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, it covers 25 markets in Europe.

About Kia Motors Corporation
Kia Motors Corporation (www.kia.com) – a maker of quality vehicles for the young-at-heart – was founded in 1944 and is Korea’s oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles.  As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia aims to become one of the world’s premier
automotive brands. 
    Over 1.5 million vehicles a year are produced at 13 manufacturing and assembly
operations in eight countries.  These vehicles are sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering 172 countries.
    Kia today has more than 42,000 employees and annual revenues of almost US$14.6 billion.  It is the major sponsor of the Australian Tennis Open and an official automotive
partner of FIFA – the governing body of the FIFA World Cup.
    Kia Motors Corporation’s brand slogan – ‘The Power to Surprise’ – represents the
company’s global commitment to surpassing customer expectations through continuous
automotive innovation.

Press Contact

Ilona Tzudnowski
PR Manager Europe
Tel.:  +49 69 850 928 357    
E-mail:  i.tzudnowski@kia-europe.com

Kia Motors Europe GmbH
Theodor-Heuss-Allee 11
60486 Frankfurt, Germany