With the increasing popularity of naming vehicles with alphanumeric tags, a Korean manufacturer may jump on the bandwagon when they release their new line-up of cars for the US market.

According to Chung Eui-sun, Hyundai Motors' Vice Chairman, Kia->ke41 may very well drop the current product names of its vehicles in favor of using alphanumeric names for future models. Incidentally, Kia is already using that practice as far as the names of their vehicles are concerned in their homeland of South Korea - the Kia Optima->ke1325 is called the K5, the Cadenza->ke3563 is called the K7, and the soon to be released Forte->ke3202 is expected to be called the K3.

While no official decision has been made on the matter, Chung admitted that with American preference on cars being called by alphanumeric names makes it less confusing to buyers, switching to alphanumeric names, as far as Chung is concerned, could strengthen the brand's image in the US market, something the company has long tried to do.

If you ask us, we really don't see the whole point of changing Kia's product names to the alphanumeric variety because, well, names don't really mean much compared to how these cars perform out on the streets. And last time we checked, performance - and safety - is still the name of the game in the auto industry. But that's just us. Let us know what you guys think.

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