When I see the relatively new Kia logo, which is simply the model’s identify however in an especially angular, scrunched-up font with a seemingly linked “I” and middle line-less “A,” the very first thing that involves thoughts is “wow, that makes sense on a state-of-the-art EV but feels laughably out-of-place on this minivan.” But apparently, there are numerous, many individuals whose response is extra alongside the strains of “wait… what does that say?”

Each month, there are round 30,000 net searches for “KN car,” in line with data posted by ad agency owner Ashwinn Krishnaswamy on Twitter. The spike in searches — which appears to come back from individuals attempting to determine in the event that they’d missed the launch of a completely new automotive firm — began early final 12 months, proper across the time that autos with the brand new emblem would’ve been hitting the streets, according to The Drive. That knowledge additionally reveals that different widespread searches, with hundreds of hits per thirty days, embody “kn car brand,” “kn car logo,” and “kn carnival car” (“Carnival” is Kia’s identify for the minivan I referenced earlier). I even have some anecdotal expertise to again the information up: after I introduced this story up in Slack, 4 Verge staffers famous that they’d additionally questioned who “KN” was.

It’s exhausting in charge individuals for being confused by the brand new emblem; Kia’s not a tiny model, to make sure, but it surely’s additionally in all probability not an organization most individuals would consider when attempting to puzzle out what automotive they’re . And the hyper-modern, joined-up lettering of its new emblem in all probability doesn’t assist issues, particularly when it adorns — no offense — a sedan, SUV, or crossover with a really bog-standard design. A Sorento or Telluride passing you on the freeway seems fully unremarkable till you catch a glimpse on the Kia emblem and go, “Wait, what does that say?”

The Kia confusion isn’t a brand new phenomenon — Creative Bloq wrote about individuals being confused by the brand new emblem almost a year and a half ago. (It’s additionally price noting that some automotive logos have at all times been complicated — Ford’s screams the corporate’s identify at you, however how do you Google the Mercedes, Mazda, or Subaru emblem?) However, whereas the tweets confusing it with the Nine Inch Nails logo are actually humorous, the statistics take the comedy to a brand new stage by giving us knowledge on simply how many individuals are getting this combined up.

Kia didn’t instantly reply to The Verge’s request for touch upon the confusion.

The excellent news for these confused is that Google is ready to level them in the suitable path; the highest end result for “KN car” is Kia’s web site — or a minimum of it was earlier than it received coated up by Google’s “helpful” information, “People also ask,” and picture outcomes packing containers (although these would possibly go away at any time, search outcomes are very fluid today).

When The Drive tried searching “KN car” on different search engines like google and yahoo, DuckDuckGo and Bing didn’t do nice. When I attempted it, the 2 search engines like google and yahoo nonetheless don’t floor Kia’s web site that effectively; the previous solely has one hyperlink to the automaker’s website on its first web page of outcomes (surprisingly sufficient, it’s particularly pointing individuals towards the web page for the Niro), and the latter doesn’t have any (lol, Bing). However, they do floor all of the articles which were written in regards to the confusion, which ought to get individuals heading in the right direction.

In my opinion, the actual sufferer in all of that is Ok&N automotive components, a model some individuals could also be conversant in in the event that they’ve spent any time within the air / oil filter part of an auto components retailer. For now, its website ranks decently excessive within the “KN car” search outcomes, however one small overcorrection from Google may bury it. It’s your time to shine, Wix Filters (a model that absolutely hasn’t needed to take care of any website positioning issues of its personal).

PS: To add a little bit of context, sure, 30,000 searches for “KN car” is lots, however in line with Google Trends, it’s barely notable in comparison with the variety of individuals looking for “Kia.”