In which year was the automobile manufacturer Kia founded?

Kia was founded in December 1944 as Kyungsung Precision Industry, a manufacturer of steel tubing and bicycle parts, eventually producing Korea's first domestic bicycle, the Samchully, in 1951. In 1952, Kyungsung Precision Industry changed its name to Kia Industries, and later built Honda-licensed small motorcycles (starting in 1957) and Mazda-licensed trucks (1962) and cars (1974). The company opened its first integrated automotive assembly plant in 1973, the Sohari Plant in Gwangmyeong.

Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia and formerly known as Kia Motors Corporation, and stylised as ΚΙΛ, is a South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Seoul. It is South Korea's second-largest automobile manufacturer after parent company Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of over 2.8 million vehicles in 2019.

According to Kia Motors, the name 'Kia' derives from the Sino-Korean characters 起 (ki, 'to arise') and 亞 (a, which stands for 亞細亞아세아, meaning 'Asia'); it is roughly translated as 'Rising from Asia.'