• Sal Colascione III

Does changing the KIA badges make you Satan's favorite relative?

Over the past year or so, I've been watching a lot of stupid people on Facebook criticize those who change the KIA badges. They think they're really smart and try to bait you into their childish argument by simply asking first, "What's wrong with the Kia logo?". Then you kindly speak your mind and fall into their trap of shame and belittlement...

Some people think you're evil and stupid for changing the badge on your Stinger. Well, to each his/her own. Don't forget that people who serve in the military don't like the "killed in action" connotation - and the simple fact that some people just don't like the cheap design of the logo.

I agree with these thoughts and feelings on the logo. Times change, people change, and designs change. Look at how many times the Cadillac logo design has changed over many decades. They constantly improve their company logo to adapt to the times - and people's preferences. You know what they say... "Roll with the punches". Don't just sit there and do nothing.

Then there are the people who like to shroud a little mystery around the Stinger. Owners enjoy, and find amusing, the look on people's faces when they can't figure out what kind of car it is...

When all is said and done, there's no wrong or right with what you choose to do with your car. If people want to change their badges - that doesn't make them bad or wrong for doing so in any way.

There's an outdoor mall near where I live - and for years I watched people walk around the two Hyundai Genesis cars parked out front. The local dealership left them there for people to look at and get familiar with them.

Both cars had no Hyundai badges - only the winged Genesis badges. I spend a lot of time at the outdoor mall and enjoyed talking to people who crowded around the two cars.

Almost every time I mentioned that they were Hyundai vehicles too soon, people left right away. Sometimes they ran! Some were embarrassed to have found themselves so attracted to a Korean car.

Now when I waited until they fell in love with the design, inside and out, and THEN told them who made it, it was as if it were now too late - and they liked the cars too much to care that it was made in Korea...

For many people in the market for a new car, removing that KIA badge allows them to fall in love with the Stinger before shunning it for not being German...

Personally, I think having some people change the badges - and some people leaving them alone - works out to KIA's advantage. It's only a matter of time before everybody relates the "E" badge, the "Stinger" text badge, and other badges like the Vintage K designs - to KIA - if they don't already do so.

I mean, everybody can put two and two together when they see the same car with various badge designs on it - because when all is said and done, nobody is going to rebadge a car to add a KIA logo. So the cats out of the bag once somebody sees a Stinger with that KIA badge. But hopefully by then, they've already fallen in love - and learned to respect the car for what it is - beyond the badge...

Oh, and one more thing. It's not only Hyundai and Kia vehicles that get rebadged. People have been rebadging for years. Chevrolet owners rebadge to HOLDEN. Buick owners rebadge to OPEL. Heck, Buick didn't even put their own name on the Riviera - it got a "script R"... Rebadging is simply another way of customizing your vehicle to differentiate it from the thousands on the road around you...

What are your thoughts about changing the KIA badges?