Kia Motors Slovakia (Kia) yet again surpassed itself when over 323,000 cars rolled off the production lines and 493,000 engines were produced in 2014. The most popular model was Kia Sportage, while the most requested engine was the gasoline 1.6 L version. In the 2014/2015 school year, Kia has cooperated with numerous secondary vocational schools and universities. Kia, with its state-of-the-art technologies, opened up the gates for 73 students from the Zilina region to put their theoretical knowledge to practice. Seven secondary school and six university students are using an oportunity to participate in a scholarship program.
“I am very proud we accomplished such amazing production results last year. At the same time, we were able to confirm our position as a leading manufacturing plant in the whole Hyundai Motor Group. I would like to sincerely thank all of our employees for their creativity and huge enthusiasm for work. I believe that this year, thanks to the new models that we will introduce to our customers, we will again be able to fully use our production capacity,“ said Eek-Hee Lee, President and CEO of Kia Motors Slovakia.
The key model of last year’s production was once more the SUV model Kia Sportage with a 55% share of the overall production. The model cee’d, which has been a significant member of the company product portfolio since 2006, followed with 36%. The family car Kia Venga concludes with 9% of the total production. The biggest markets of 2014 remained Russia (18%), Great Britain (13%), Germany (9%), Italy (6%), and Spain (6%).
Kia plant in Slovakia produced over 493,000 engines, which slightly exceeded the number of engines manufactured in 2013. Almost half of the engines were exported to the sister company Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech in the Czech Republic. The most demanded was the 1.6 L gasoline engine that 22% of customers had ordered for their car. Gasoline engines constituted for over 50% of the total amount of engines.
Kia Motors Slovakia helps students of secondary vocational schools from the Zilina region to gain practical experience and skills. Since the 2007/2008 school year, more than 530 students have participated in the training program, which also increases their chances of getting hired in real life. The students have applied their theoretical knowledge mostly at the engine shop as well as with the maintenance and quality departments. From the 2011/2012 school year, more than 40 secondary school and university students have been offered a possibility to participate in a scholarship program and apart from gaining new experience, the students also received financial support to finish their studies.
