Matthew 6:24 – No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Kia Motors is a company that is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and is amongst the leading automobile manufacturers in the world. Alongside Ford, Kia Motors produces and markets a number of successful automobile models both in South Korea and in other countries. Starting in 1986 (when it produced just 26 cars, followed by more than 95,000 in the following year), Kia Motors Corp returned to the auto business, in cooperation with Ford. In 1952, Kia Motors Corp changed its name from Kyungsung Precision Industries, then built motorcycles (starting in 1957), trucks (1962) and cars (1974).

Based in Seoul, South Korea, Kias founding was laid in December 1944, when it was named the Kyungsung Precision Industry. Kia Corporation was founded in December 1944 as Kyungsung Precision Industry, a maker of steel tubes and bicycle parts, ultimately producing the first South Korean home-made bike, the Samchully, in 1951. Kias main production operations at its beginning were focused on steel tubing and bicycle parts. Its main line of business back then was to produce steel tubes, and also bicycle parts.

Matthew 6:33 – But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

By 1951, Kya had moved to making full-blown bikes, and was producing motorcycles by 1957. In 1957, the company began producing motorcycles of smaller sizes, along with trucks, which were licensed. Kia eventually found success, first as a diverse maker of bicycles and industrial products, then as a maker of trucks and cars. Kia began as a bicycle parts manufacturer, eventually transitioning seven years later to producing and selling full-fledged vehicles.

Today, Kia is Koreas second-largest automobile company worldwide. Before the merger between Kia Motors Corporation and Hyundai in 1998, Kia was South Koreas second largest manufacturer of passenger cars and trucks. In 1992, the company opened its doors in the United States as Kia Motors America, selling its first vehicles in the country. Kia started out as one of the South Korean giant chaebols (groups of companies), but by the early 1990s was operating as a separate, publicly traded company.

Psalms 4:8 – I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Kia Corp. built a $1 billion production facility in Nuevo Leon, in the northern Mexican state, that produces 300,000 cars annually. Kia has also beefed up operations in the United States, with the opening of Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, which has a yearly production capacity of 300,000 cars aimed at North American and global markets. In October 2006, Kia Motors America broke ground on Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia in West Point, Georgia, representing an investment of $1 billion USD by Kia Motors Corp. The factory has since expanded in size and scope from the time when Hyundai Motor Group began manufacturing in the U.S. with their first automobile production facility.

Ephesians 6:11 – Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

GEORGIA (WTOC) — In 2009, Hyundai Motor Group opened its first Kia U.S. vehicle production facility in the United States, outside of a small town near the Georgia-Alabama border. Kia was also making their own cars back in 1974, having started its first automobile production plant in 1973. Kia Corporation has been specialising in producing military vehicles, with variations, and other transport equipment, and providing these as a lone producer of military vehicles designated by the South Korean government since 1976, when Kia Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., now known as Hyundai Wia, was established. In line with the long-term plan of the 1973 Military Chief, Park Chung-hees motor vehicle industry promotion, Kia began producing passenger cars in 1974.

Kia Motors Corp built a range of small cars, called the Brisarange, until 1981, when production ended following an executive order by the new military dictator, Chun Doo-hwan, that meant that Kia had to abandon light-duty vehicles, and concentrate solely on light trucks. Kia Industries stopped focusing on passenger cars, focusing instead on making small trucks. Only three companies, including Kia, were allowed to manufacture cars, while only Kia was allowed to make light trucks. This was because the South Korean government decided the auto industry in the country was too competitive, and ordered Kia to stop making cars, instead having to focus on lightweight trucks.

Psalms 28:7 – The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

Kias homegrown truck and automobile businesses proved to be successful, allowing Kia to become South Koreas second-largest homegrown carmaker and tenth-largest chaebol company by the 1980s. By 1995, Kia Motors had built more than 100 dealerships throughout the U.S., selling more than 24,000 vehicles during that time. By the time Kia entered the U.S. under its nameplate in 1993, it was already selling its cars in approximately 80 foreign countries, and was building more than 500,000 cars annually.

While starting represented a new area for Kia, another Korean firm–Hyundai–predated Kias entrance into the truck business by some 15 years. Interestingly, Hyundai beat out Ford Motor Company, which had been interested in Kia since 1986. Kia did not break into Europes biggest family-car market until it launched its four-door sedan, the Clarus, in 1999 – one year late, because of the financial difficulties that Kia was facing prior to being bought out by parent Hyundai Motor Company.

Ezra 8:21 – Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

Kia Corporation is the second-largest carmaker in South Korea, behind parent Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of more than 2.8 million vehicles in 2019. In 1952, Kyungsung Precision Industries changed its name to Kia Industries, translating into rising from Asia in its native language. A key dynamic that influenced Kia (and Korea) in the 1960s and 70s was the chaebol (a corporate conglomerate composed of major companies owned or managed by relatives of a king or two).