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Kia Motors has become a Global Gold Sponsor of the
upcoming Copa America 2011 (or ¡®Copa America Argentina 2011¡¯). The
sponsorship agreement was signed today by Tae-Hyun (Thomas) Oh, Senior
Executive Vice President & COO of Kia Motors Corporation, and Eugenio
Figueredo, Vice President of CONMEBOL, at a signing ceremony in Buenos
Aires, Argentina.

¡°It is a great honor to be the partner of the world¡¯s oldest and South
America¡¯s biggest football championship,¡± commented Mr. Oh. ¡°We firmly
believe that the signing of the agreement with CONMEBOL will be another
milestone for Kia Motors to widen our presence as a worldwide football
events partner and to increase our global brand awareness.¡±

Mr. Figueredo said, ¡°We are truly pleased to welcome a trusted partner
like Kia Motors and I am confident that our mutual passion for the game
will bring delightful moments to football fans across the globe.¡±

The Copa America Argentina 2011 is scheduled to kick off on July 1st with
the champion to be crowned on July 24th. Ten national teams from throughout
South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador,
Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and 2 invited teams (this year -
Mexico and Japan) comprise three groups that will play in the tournament.
The matches will take place throughout Argentina in the cities of Buenos
Aires, La Plata, Cordoba, Mendoza, Santa Fe, Salta, Jujuy and San Juan.

 During the Copa America Argentina 2011, Kia will supply official vehicles
from its wide-ranging model line-up to the local organizing committee and
seek to boost its brand image by illuminating its sponsorship presence
through diverse marketing activities including pitch A-board
advertisements, TV commercials airing during the game broadcasts and Kia
car displays at the venues. 

In addition, Kia is activating global promotional campaigns called ¡®Champ
into the Arena¡¯ and ¡®Lucky Drive to Copa America¡¯, which received
enthusiastic responses from 37,000 football fans from 14 different
countries during the 2010 FIFA World CupTM and 42 invited customers from 19
countries for the 2011 Australian Open, respectively. Kia Champ into the
Arena is a five-a-side amateur soccer competition and Lucky Drive to Copa
America is a program giving customers in participating countries a chance
to win an all-expense paid trip to Mendoza, Argentina for semi-final match
viewing and sightseeing tour.

Kia views the active participation in football sponsorship marketing as an
integral part of its ¡glocalization¡¯ strategy to globally enhance and
locally customize its brand image. After a series of successes with global
sponsorship involvements in UEFA Euro 2008TM and 2010 FIFA World CupTM and
local partnerships with Atletico de Madrid of Spain and FC Bordeaux of
France, Kia has strategically decided to broaden its local partnership to
South America, a promising automobile market with annual new car demand of
over 6 million vehicles.

Tags:  ceremony moments football