According to Kia Motors, the name "Kia" derives from the Sino-Korean characters ki (起, "to come out") and a (亞, which stands for (East) Asia), it is roughly translated as "arise or come up out of (East) Asia" or "rising out of (East) Asia". The current emblem of Kia is very simplistic, featuring the company’s name placed on a red background, embedded into the silver oval. However, the KIA logo has a specific feature that makes it particularly recognizable: the A letter misses the horizontal bar. The color of the font and background may vary between silver, red, white, and black depending on the application. The name of the company can be deciphered as ‘emerging out of Asia’ if translated from Korean. The corporate colors of KIA Motors are red and white. However, this palette was only adopted in the 1990s. White color is said to be representing purity, elegance, and transparency towards the clients, while red exposes the brand’s determination in rapid development and makes part of the company’s slogan ‘The Power to Surprise’.