Kia roughly translates to coming out of Asia. It is South Korea's oldest car company. Kia changed its name from Kyungsung Precision Industry, in the early 1950's. It started out as making bicycle parts, but in late 1950s started making motorcycles. They bankrupted in 1997 and 51% of Kia being acquired in 1998 by South Korean rival Hyundai Motor Company. Subsequently, however, Hyundai has divested some of its ownership of Kia Motors, and currently Hyundai Motor Company owns less than 40% of the company.