Kia and Samsung
Overview
'Kia and Samsung' is a keyword that collectively refers to the large-scale business entries by Kia Motors and Samsung Group (Samsung Motors) into the Korean automobile industry in the 1990s and their outcomes. Around the Asian Financial Crisis, the two companies each handed over management control to Hyundai Motor Group and Renault, respectively, failing to survive independently, and this process remains a symbolic case of Korean conglomerate restructuring and automobile industry reorganization. Today, its meaning is expanding to a structure in which Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai and Kia) and Samsung Group cooperate in the fields of semiconductors, batteries, and electronic components.
Key Details
Background: The 1990s Boom in Automobile Industry Entry
In the early 1990s, the Korean automobile market had a three-way structure of Hyundai, Daewoo, and Kia, and as the government relaxed regulations on new entrants into passenger cars, large companies continued to enter the market. Samsung Group entered the passenger car market in 1994 when Chairman Lee Kun-hee officially declared entry into the automobile business, while Kia Group increased its size by pursuing the acquisition of Asia Motors as well as passenger and commercial vehicles. Both groups made massive facility investments, but faced a crisis as the financing environment deteriorated sharply due to the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
Kia Motors: Expansion, Bankruptcy, and Acquisition by Hyundai
Kia Motors started in 1944 as Kyungsung Precision Industry, entered the global market through the Brisa in the 1970s and the Pride in the 1980s. In the 1990s, it continued expansion management by pursuing the acquisition of Asia Motors and increasing overseas plants, but in July 1997 Kia Group went bankrupt and entered court receivership. Afterward, through public fund injection and international bidding, Hyundai Group led acquisition negotiations in 1998, and in 1999 Hyundai Motor acquired Kia, forming today's two-brand system (Hyundai and Kia) of Hyundai Motor Group. It is a representative case of the large-company business swap known as the 'Big Deal.'
Samsung Motors: Late Entry and Sale to Renault
Samsung Motors was established in 1995, built the Busan plant, and introduced the SM5 in 1998. However, as group-level restructuring began due to the Asian Financial Crisis, the automobile business was pushed out of core competencies, and in 1998 management control passed to Renault on condition that Renault acquire a 70% stake. After a new start as Renault Samsung Motors in 2000, the company changed its name to Renault Korea Motors in 2022, and the Busan plant still functions as a domestic complete vehicle production base. Samsung Group concentrated resources on electronic component fields such as semiconductors, displays, and batteries instead of maintaining the automobile business.
Commonalities and Differences Between the Two Cases
The commonalities are: (1) both suffered liquidity crises due to the Asian Financial Crisis after massive facility investments; (2) the business owners changed according to group-level logic of selection and concentration; and (3) afterward, the Korean automobile industry was reorganized around a small number of complete vehicle manufacturers. The difference is that Kia was incorporated into a domestic group while maintaining its brand and production base, whereas Samsung Motors passed to a foreign company and its brand disappeared.
'Kia vs. Samsung' in Sports
In professional baseball, Haitai/KIA Tigers and Samsung Lions have established themselves as regular postseason rivals since the 1980s, and the expression 'Kia Samsung' is sometimes used as a byword for a rivalry match. It is a case in which competition between corporate brands expanded into sports content.
Latest Trends
In 2024–2025, 'Kia Samsung' is closer to a keyword for cooperation rather than competition. Hyundai and Kia are expanding points of contact with Samsung SDI batteries and Samsung Electronics semiconductors, displays, and electronic components in the process of transitioning to electric vehicles and software-defined vehicles (SDVs). Samsung Electronics has expanded supply of automotive memory and automotive processors, and Samsung SDI has strengthened battery cooperation lines with Hyundai Motor Group. Meanwhile, Renault Korea (formerly Samsung Motors) is defending the utilization rate of its Busan plant with a hybrid-centered lineup and seeking an electrification transition. Kia, for its part, recorded a record-high level of operating profit in 2024 and grew into the electrification and PBV axis within Hyundai Motor Group, and with meetings between group heads and discussions on cooperation among affiliates continuing, an industrial ecosystem different from the past competition over 'automobile entry' is being formed.
Related Topics
- [[기아자동차]]
- [[삼성자동차]]
- [[현대자동차그룹]]
- [[르노코리아]]
- [[외환위기]]
- [[KIA 타이거즈]]