Kia donates 18 electric vehicles to care organizations in second 'Move & Connect' campaign

Kia held the first vehicle handover ceremony for the second phase of its "Move & Connect" corporate social responsibility program at the Songpa-gu Family Center in Seoul on Wednesday, the automaker announced Thursday.

Move & Connect is sponsored by Kia's domestic business division and operated by Green Light, a nonprofit organization. The program was designed to support frontline community care institutions serving vulnerable populations with vehicles from Kia's electric vehicle lineup.

This year, Kia expanded the program's beneficiaries to include multicultural families, a category not covered in the first phase last year, which was limited to organizations serving the elderly, people with disabilities and children. The range of supported models was also broadened — from the PV5 alone in the first phase to now include the EV3, EV4 and EV5 — allowing each institution to choose the model that best suits its operating environment and the needs of its users, the company said.

The vehicle delivered to the Songpa-gu Family Center is an EV5, which will be used for a hospital and government office interpretation escort service in which language interpreters accompany families in need to appointments. Kia said it expects features such as the surround-view monitor and Remote Smart Parking Assist 2 to prove useful when navigating the narrow alleyways of Geoyeo-dong and Macheon-dong, the areas the center serves.

Alongside the vehicle donation, Kia employees also carried out volunteer activities. Staff from the domestic business division supported a career-exploration program for 20 multicultural elementary school students from the Songpa-gu Family Center at the Kia pavilion inside KidZania Seoul in Songpa-gu on Oct. 21.

Starting with Wednesday's handover, Kia will donate vehicles to 18 care organizations nationwide — five EV3s, five EV4s, five EV5s and three PV5 wheelchair-accessible vehicles — on a rolling basis. The company plans to continue employee volunteer activities alongside the donations.

"Transportation is an essential foundation for supporting vulnerable populations, and we hope this contribution helps these organizations deliver services to those in their care," a Kia official said. "With the expansion of both the beneficiary categories and the vehicle lineup this year, we will work to ensure the program makes a real difference on the ground."

Meanwhile, Kia recently signed an MOU with Japanese passenger transport company MK Holdings on cooperation for its purpose-built vehicle business in Japan.

The agreement aims to have Kia supply purpose-built vehicles to MK Holdings, which operates the taxi company MK Taxi, and to grow sales in the Japanese market. MK Holdings operates mobility services including taxis and tour buses across eight cities in Japan, including Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya.