South Korea’s Kia denies responsibility for anti-Musk ad

SEOUL - South Korean carmaker Kia said on March 11 that it had not approved an advertising campaign that featured one of its electric vehicles with a bumper sticker denigrating rival Tesla owner Elon Musk.

The advertisement, posted in February on the social media accounts of Kia Norway, features the company’s entry-level electric car, the EV3, with a bumper sticker saying, “I bought this after Elon went crazy”.

The sticker appears to riff on a viral trend of Tesla owners, unhappy with the world’s richest man’s recent foray into politics, slapping bumper stickers on their vehicles claiming they had purchased them “before Musk went crazy”.

The advert was removed on March 11 after AFP asked the South Korean company about the image.

“Kia Corporation is aware of a social media post by Kia Norway, which has since been removed,” a company spokesperson said in a statement provided to AFP.

“The post was an entirely independent local initiative that does not reflect the position of Kia Europe or Kia Corporation,” it added.

Mr Musk responded with apparent incredulity as users on the social media site X, which he owns, shared images of the Kia advertisement.

“They really did that?” he asked in response to a post calling out Kia Norway for running the promotion.

Kia is an affiliate of South Korea’s Hyundai Motors, and combined they are the world’s third-largest carmaker by volume as at 2024, selling a total of more than 7.2 million cars.

In recent years, Kia has rolled out a range of EVs, from the entry-level EV3 – Britain’s 2025 car of the year – to the large SUV EV9.

Billionaire Musk, the boss of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of social media site X, has become a key backer of and adviser to US President Donald Trump.

Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, has recently become the target of protests against the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) that he leads, including vandalisation of Tesla facilities and an apparent cyber attack on X.

While Mr Musk enjoys Mr Trump’s confidence, polling shows he is deeply unpopular among ordinary Americans, and his cuts have sparked angry confrontations between Republicans and their constituents at town halls.

Tesla has seen its sales drop across Europe in recent weeks following Mr Musk’s controversial support for far-right groups, including Germany’s AfD during the country’s recent election campaign.

Tesla sales in Germany – Europe’s biggest car market – plunged more than 76 per cent year on year in February, official data showed. Overall sales in the European Union almost halved, on year, in January.

Investors are concerned about the potential for boycotts and buyer backlash over Mr Musk’s divisive behaviour as an adviser to the US president.

Tesla has lost more than one-third of its market value since mid-December as Mr Musk deepens his association with the polarising US leader. AFP