Kia’s Rebranding Left Many Wondering Who KN Is

November 23, 2022 By Aaem Joshi

(Image Credit Google)

According to information shared on Twitter by the proprietor of an advertising agency, Ashwinn Krishnaswamy, there are over 30,000 web searches per month for "KN vehicle." Early last year, just around the time that vehicles with the new logo would have been hitting the streets, individuals began searching more frequently, which seems to be related to them wondering if they missed the introduction of a totally new car firm, according to The Drive. According to the data, other frequently searched terms with thousands of monthly hits include "kn car brand," "kn car logo," and "kn carnival car" (Kia calls the minivan I previously mentioned the "Carnival"). In order to support the data, I also have some anecdotal evidence: when I brought up this story in Slack, four Verge employees mentioned that they had also wondered who "KN" was.

the new kia logo is so unreadable that at least 30k people a month search for the "KN car" ever since its debut pic.twitter.com/jRj25JoAPp
— Ashwinn (@Shwinnabego) November 17, 2022

It's difficult to blame people for being perplexed by the new emblem; Kia isn't a small firm, to be sure, but it's also probably not one that most people would consider when attempting to identify the make and model of a car. Additionally, its new logo's hyper-modern, joined-up typography definitely doesn't help matters, especially when it adorns a sedan, SUV, or crossover with a rather conventionally designed exterior. When a Sorento or Telluride passes you on the highway, they appear to be completely ordinary until you notice the Kia emblem and wonder, "Wait, what does that say?" [caption id="attachment_65131" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] KIA

Image credit: theverge[/caption] The Kia logo, misunderstanding is not a recent occurrence; about a year and a half ago, Creative Bloq wrote about how the new design was confusing some people. (It should be noted that some automobile logos have long been difficult to understand; the Ford emblem shouts out the name of the firm, but how do you Google the Mercedes, Mazda, or Subaru logos?) While the tweets that confuse it with the Nine Inch Nails logo are amusing, the statistics raise the level of humor by providing information on how many people are making this mistake. The good news for those who are perplexed is that Google can direct them in the right direction; the top result for "KN car" is Kia's website, or was until it was obscured by Google's "helpful" news, "People also ask," and image results boxes.

By Aaem Joshi

I am a Journalist who loves digging up stories that remain unheard. Strongly Believe in the knowledge of the social world.

Kia’s Rebranding Left Many Wondering Who KN Is

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