Kia Motors Corp. said March 13 that it will invest 2.069 trillion South Korean won on research and development activities in 2018, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The 2018 budget is up 26% from the 1.642 trillion won in R&D spending in 2017, Yonhap quoted a Kia spokesman as saying.
The planned investment will mainly fund vehicle technologies such as autonomous driving, but will not include facilities, the spokesman added.
The South Korean carmaker posted 53.536 trillion won in sales in 2017, resulting in a 2.85% ratio in R&D spending to total sales that year, Yonhap said.
As of March 12, US$1 was equivalent to 1,064.38 South Korean won.
