Motoring Today Column

Nov 17, 2021

The first vehicles now carrying the new logo and manifesting the new philosophy and slogan "Movement that Inspires" as part of the major Kia global rebrand have arrived.

The All New Sorento and theStonic Style Edition arrived asKia Philippines celebrated the relaunch of the Kia brand locally, the event streamed online.

During the brand relaunch, Kia Philippines Manny Aligada said: "Our brand's purpose is to create spaces that will inspire consumers through our product design. To create more time for consumers so they can focus on what inspires them, and what they aspire for. To create innovative experiences that can influence people and today's culture."

In a Zoom conference with Sunshine Television, Aligada further explained the reasons for the rebrand that came with a new logo, look, slogan, philosophy and enhanced customer experience.

"The intention of the rebrand goes beyond the change in the logo. It's easy to change visuals. But it goes beyond that. The intention is to send out the message that Kia is out there to be a very significant and relevant player in the automotive industry," he said.

"The objective is very straightforward. It's to present the intentions of the brand to be appreciated by the target market. To be able to communicate that we are going to continue to develop vehicles that are meaningful, relevant, useful and within easy reach of the buying public," he added.

Aligada indicated that Kia is particularly keen on providing relevant vehicles for "very young and active members of the population" who compose a large segment of the market.

"You'll notice now it has a younger vibe to it. The way the Logo has been prepared , it pushes for upward motion, and that is exactly what we want to communicate," he said.

About the kind of new kind of customer experience that Kia wants to establish with the rebrand, Aligada had this to say:

"From the time you are made aware of the brand to the time you are introduced to the products, all the way to the communication and engagement with our contact points, websites, our ads, our dealerships, our people, our sales executives, and even our service advisors, they are all attuned and aligned with our intention of delivering to our customer requirements."

The brand relaunch program streamed on line also focused a lot on Illac Diaz of the Liter of Light fame.

During the Zoom meeting with STV, Aligada said Diaz was chosen to represent the kind of brand transformation defined by the slogan "Movement that Inspires" that Kia was undertaking.

Aligada said that among those considered for this, Diaz was one who stood out for working on meaningful and relevant programs "not for business but for relevance" to communities he wanted to help and serve.

"So he was working for himself, he was working for communities and he did program after program consistently with the same intention," Aligada said.

"We thought that was so consistent with our own objectives. To be relevant, simple, but significant. And of course we had wanted to communicate the message of inspiration," he ended.

All-New Civic Arriving

Those eagerly awaiting the arrival of the All-New Civic will be happy and excited that it will happen soon.

Honda Cars Philippines (HCPI) has confirmed that the 11th generation Civic will be formally launched on November 23, the event to be streamed on the official HCPI Facebook page.

What should excite Honda fans and enthusiasts is that the All-New Civic will arrive with a turbocharged VTEC engine.

]What is more is that all new Civic variants will now come standard with Honda SENSING, a suite of intelligent safety technologies.

The prices should also excite would-be buyers. Honda says prices for theAll-New Civic starts atP1.3 million and up to P1.7 million for the top-of-line Civic RS Turbo CVT.

Lights For Safety

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and its chairman Benhur Abalos should be commended for coming up with a solution to the problem of how to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic at U-turn slots without interrupting the operations of the EDSA Bus Carousel.

The MMDA has installed new traffic signalization systems at two major U-turn slots on EDSA - one in front of theQuezon City Academy and the other Dario Bridge.

"We are gearing towards this holiday season. Hence, we have installed traffic signal lights on the said areas to improve road safety, pedestrian movement as well as reduced travel time. It is operational 24/7," said Abalos during the ceremonial switch-on of the new traffic signal systems.

The other good thing about the signal lights is that it will free up more traffic enforcers for deployment to other problematic areas.

"Currently, we have eight personnel deployed on the said areas. We will deploy our personnel to other strategic locations along the major thoroughfares to man the traffic," Abalos said.

Buendia-EDSA Footbridge

Another cause of commendation is the opening of the new footbridge at EDSA Buendia Southbound that will provide safe access to and from the new loading and unloading bay for the EDSA Bus Carousel in the area.

The pedestrian footbridge will connect to the existingMRT pedestrian overpass crossingEDSA Southbound which will serve those who are going to Makati Central Business District and vice versa.

It can also benefit commuters coming from Bonifacio Global City.

The new footbridge can be accessed from Makati Avenue or the southbound exit of the MRT Buendia Station.

Happy Motoring!!!

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