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Kia boosts investment plan by 30% over the next four years; shares fall
9 Apr, 2026 / 12:23 PM / KIA

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Reuters: SEOUL, April 9 (Reuters) - South Korean automaker Kia Corp  plans to boost its investment plan over the next four years by 30% to boost ‌vehicle electrification, software and other new businesses, according to an investor presentation on Thursday.

The company plans to raise its investments to 41.4 trillion won ($27.95 billion) from 2026 to 2029, it said.

The presentation also showed Kia cut its 2030 target for electric vehicle sales ⁠by about 20% to 1 million units, reflecting weaker demand and the scrapping of EV subsidies in the U.S. last year.

Shares in the automaker slid, trading down 4.2% after earlier having risen as much as 2.5%.

Kia also said it plans to introduce a test version of its so-called software-defined vehicles by the end of 2027, which would mark a one-year delay. Hyundai Motor Group had touted the SDVs, which allow ‌vehicles ⁠to improve features and functions constantly similar to Tesla vehicles.

Kia also said it plans to launch a model equipped with semi-automated driving technology for both highways and urban driving environments in early 2029, followed by a fully autonomous ⁠robo-taxi model in 2030.

Kia joined sister firm Hyundai Motor in unveiling plans to deploy Atlas humanoid robots developed by Boston Dynamics. It will use them ⁠at a factory in the U.S. state of Georgia from 2029.

Hyundai plans to use the robots at a new plant in Savannah, Georgia, from 2028 ⁠and has said it aims to build a factory capable of manufacturing 30,000 robots annually by that time.