What's in the name? Kia’s new logo left people Googling for KN car

Hyundai Group-owned South Korean auto major Kia introduced its new brand logo with a record-breaking pyrotechnic display in 2021. But, it appears to have confused many people, as several consumers have started searching for the ‘KN car’ instead of the ‘Kia car’ on Google. This confusion seems to be persisting as every month, around 30,000 people are Googling the wrong car name. A Twitter user noticed Google searches for ‘KN car’ have increased significantly since last year, at a time when the new Kia cars with the new brand logo have been becoming more common.

The Twitter user also wrote that this surge in search for ‘KN car’ is because of the new logo that has created confusion among people. "The new kia logo is so unreadable that at least 30k people a month search for the "KN car" ever since its debut," reads the tweet. The confusion is not limited to Google, as a Reddit post has shown a picture of a Kia Carnival with the caption, “KN car model?"

The Google Trends data has also revealed that this confusion is among people from countries like the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, who are searching with keywords like KN SUV, KN car brand price, KN car brand electric, what is KN car brand, KN Carnival car, What is KN and KN Telluride car. Interestingly, while there are around 30,000 searches per month for the keyword ‘KN car’, the keyword ‘Kia’ gets around 1.83 million searches on Google.

Meanwhile, Kia uncovered its all-new Seltos at the Los Angeles Auto Show last week, which grabbed pretty good attention. The US market-spec new Kia Seltos has a 195-hp generating petrol engine and a substantially updated design. It gets a bigger grille, new bumper and larger 18-inch alloy wheels along with sharper LED headlamps.