random thoughts about rebadging

[ballistic]

on the way to work this morning i was thinking about the "to badge or not to badge" debate. some people like to keep the kia badges, some people like to change the kia badges and some people like to debadge altogether.

my thoughts this morning were focusing on the changing of the badges. here's how i feel. i think it's a good thing for some stingers to have kia badges and some stingers to have whatever else people want to use. reason being as time goes on everyone is going to see a stinger with a kia badge and with some other badge.

everybody knows that nobody puts a kia badge on a car that's not a kia. so when people see a stinger with the kia badge that reaffirms the fact that it's made by kia. when people see other types of badges on the stinger, they still relate it to kia as they've already seen one with the kia badges.

maybe the first time they see a stinger with a different badge they're very intrigued and start asking questions. it's only a matter of time before they figure out exactly what it is by seeing another one on the road with kia badges. there are thousands of stingers on the road now. and there will be tens of thousands of them on the road soon enough.

 

[niko]

Agreed!! It’s still is a Kia even I tho I did rebadge but what can I say I’m in love with the stinger!

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Most, I assume who see a stinger for the first time without Kia badging & in this day & age would google “what type of car is a stinger” & all is revealed, same result, they are then enlightened to the fact that is a Kia, it may also prick their interest to dig a little deeper into researching the car, potential sales could be had. So some may say we are doing marketing for Kia.

 

[StingerGT68]

The amount of times I've seen people in my rear view mirror mouth "What's a Stinger?" to their passenger, and then see the passenger whip out their phone to check

 

[Stinger GT SS]

The amount of times I've seen people in my rear view mirror mouth "What's a Stinger?" to their passenger, and then see the passenger whip out their phone to check

Exactly....

 

[MisterMac]

My only problem with re-badging, or whatever you want to call it, is when someone up-badges. That's simply wrong. For instance, for a Premium Stinger to wear GT badging is a no-no because it is a lie. Otherwise, we should all have fun doing whatever we want to outfit our Stingers.

 

[bumble bee]

Just change the badges! I'm sure yoy know there is alot sold right on this web.

 

[DaBears4Lyfe]

I have contemplated the same thing over and over... Am i re-badging because its a kia and i want it to stand out like a German Car? Am i doing it because i dislike the badge? Truth is, i think the KIA Badge looks cheap, but I also think the weird E looks worst. The K one looks pretty bad ass, but it does remind me of a knock off version of the Lexus.

At best I bought the STINGER trunk badge to go over the KIA trunk badge... but i still dont know if i should rebadge with a whole new logo....

 

[MerlintheMad]

I'm lazy. Also I don't trust to not damage something by rebadging. So, two negatives right there. I also don't dislike the KIA badge. It's on the car seven places. I'd either have to replace all or none of the badges, because I think it's just silly to replace some of them. Too much work and expense to be worth it to me. I'm not an ambassador for Kia in my mind. The car is a rolling advertisement but I rarely think about it.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I bought the STINGER trunk badge to go over the KIA trunk badge

That I could see myself doing. That shouts "STINGER"! without having to do anything to the other six badges.

 

[Schumi Jr]

I only changed mine to match the dark chrome. Had the chrome Kia badges matched the rest if the trim I would not have replaced them. I think it was a silly design choice by Kia.

 

[Socalstinga]

I did the stinger in the rear and took off everything else, because, well I like the way it looks with stinger on there. No different from any car i've owned, always debadge the rear (I've done it to my beemers too). as for the front kia, it's still there but I think the kia badges are ugly. I would rebadge that if I had something better to put on and the E doesn't look any better IMO. I was going to take it off and have the holes plugged and then painted over but with the stinger paint, I'm hesitant to do so. for me, it's not about hiding it's a kia but more of a style preference...

 

[Crisis]

I did the stinger in the rear and took off everything else, because, well I like the way it looks with stinger on there. No different from any car i've owned, always debadge the rear (I've done it to my beemers too). as for the front kia, it's still there but I think the kia badges are ugly. I would rebadge that if I had something better to put on and the E doesn't look any better IMO. I was going to take it off and have the holes plugged and then painted over but with the stinger paint, I'm hesitant to do so. for me, it's not about hiding it's a kia but more of a style preference...

Agree 100% with everything in your post. It it wasn't for the need to cover the holes in the rear, I may not have had any badging on the rear of my Stinger. That being said, the big Stinger script on the back does look pretty decent.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I only changed mine to match the dark chrome. Had the chrome Kia badges matched the rest if the trim I would not have replaced them. I think it was a silly design choice by Kia.

Deliberate, imho (silly, maybe). High chrome winking at you only from the KIA badges draws attention to them.