Kedah's K is another of the original one-letter marks that did not need rescuing.

It runs steadily from the post-war era up to the early 1990s before moving to three letters in 1991. The curve is smooth: no collisions to fix, no sudden reinvention, just a slow climb.

Langkawi introduces a variation. When the island's duty-free status turns it into its own ecosystem, registrations there are distinguished with KV. KV remains part of Kedah's family, but everyone understands it as "Langkawi series": a limited, clearly tagged offshoot.

K reads as the main line; KV reads as the side story with its own rules.