'We have all the options': Kia said it's biggest strength is its wide range from the cheap 2026 Kia Picanto to its EV3 EV and Tasman ute and petrol SUVs

Kia’s head of global product planning has fired a cheeky shot at rival brands, said he believes no brand is as well-prepared as Kia for the world’s unpredictable automotive market.

Spencer Cho, Kia’s Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Business Planning Subdivision, said it’s impossible to know what the industry might look like in the future, but being prepared for as many possibilities as reasonable is the best answer.

Speaking with Australian media at the launch of the new-generation 2026 Kia Seltos, Cho said that he thinks no one can know how global events will affect the industry.

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Trying to predict the events that might change the way brands need to operate is impossible, he said, but understanding what needs to be done to respond can’t be known until after the fact.

“Let me put it this way. If I can say that I can expect everything… that's not possible,” Cho said.

The US-Israel war in Iran and the effects it has had on global oil shipping is front-of-mind for Cho.

“No one can expect this kind of war will happen, and also a couple years ago for Russia and Ukraine, no one can expect that kind of thing.”

"But what we are doing is we carefully monitor the market demand or market changes. And development of product takes quite some time. We should create very sound product strategies, and we have to maintain those strategies in a consistent manner.”

Rather than scrambling to respond to changes in the industry, Cho said Kia has built enough options to be able to react quickly in a ‘here’s one we prepared earlier’ manner.

“Thankfully, we studied the EV transition quite earlier than any other brand. There are also some ups and downs, but the transition and the trend stays the same, just the differences are a little bit of this slow down. So speed might be the difference.”

He says the key is not drastically changing for short-term gain, rather slightly adjusting without removing options for the future. Essentially, giving EVs a boost shouldn’t mean forgetting to continue ICE development, he said.

“But we stay in the course to maintain the development of the planned EV models entering each global market, step by step. Yet we're still developing the all new ICE models as well as you see in the new Seltos.

“So one of the key strengths we have is all the technologies, the diesel or gasoline or hybrid and plug-ins and EVs.”

Kia Sorento PHEV

Kia Tasman

Kia EV5

Kia EV9

Kia EV3

Kia Picanto

“So we have all the options in our hands.

“Certain market ups and downs… hybrid is rising, we can provide hybrid models. If EV is coming, we can provide EVs. So thankfully, we have all the technologies in our hands, and we have the all the product lineup as well.”

Cho took a cheeky swipe at rivals, too, rare for a senior executive. He said Kia’s strength globally is its range of cars available from the budget end, Picanto for example, through to hybrids, plug-ins, and more expensive performance cars or large electric SUVS.

“So that's probably one of the strengths Kia has compared to other brands. I don't know whether you can name any other OEMs better than us in the case of the product line-up as of today.”