Kia Piracy Alleged

The alleged theft of Kia Motors Corp.'s advanced product design and production technology by a group of present and former Kia employees in South Korea may have a significant impact on Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd., as well, Ward's has learned.

A Korean public prosecutor's office says it has indicted nine people and arrested five for selling vehicle-production technology to a Chinese automotive-consulting firm, which in turn sold it to a Chinese auto maker that one Korean newspaper suggests is Chery Automobile Co. Ltd.

The group is charged with pirating and selling advanced design technology for a new Kia luxury cross/utility vehicle codenamed HM, which shares product technology with Hyundai's new flagship Veracruz, a Hyundai insider tells Ward's.

“The new Kia HM will be shown next year, and it is in the same class as the Veracruz,” the insider discloses. Plans call for Kia to launch the new CUV as an '09 model, Korean media reports say.

Other stolen production technology is for the Kia Sorento compact CUV, which is identical in many cases to the technology used to produce the Hyundai Santa Fe, the insider says.

If the prosecutor's charges are proven, it means proprietary production technology vital to operations at Kia's Hwasung plant, located just outside Seoul in Suwon, and Hyundai's U.S. Alabama plant have been compromised and may be copied.