diff --git a/flang/lib/Optimizer/Builder/HLFIRTools.cpp b/flang/lib/Optimizer/Builder/HLFIRTools.cpp
index 0b1e57e8f6c37..17efa45b8667d 100644
--- a/flang/lib/Optimizer/Builder/HLFIRTools.cpp
+++ b/flang/lib/Optimizer/Builder/HLFIRTools.cpp
@@ -1132,8 +1132,13 @@ hlfir::genTypeAndKindConvert(mlir::Location loc, fir::FirOpBuilder &builder,
   std::optional<int> toKindCharConvert;
   if (auto toCharTy = mlir::dyn_cast<fir::CharacterType>(toType)) {
     if (auto fromCharTy = mlir::dyn_cast<fir::CharacterType>(fromType))
-      if (toCharTy.getFKind() != fromCharTy.getFKind())
+      if (toCharTy.getFKind() != fromCharTy.getFKind()) {
         toKindCharConvert = toCharTy.getFKind();
+        // Preserve source length (padding/truncation will occur in assignment
+        // if needed).
+        toType = fir::CharacterType::get(
+            fromType.getContext(), toCharTy.getFKind(), fromCharTy.getLen());
+      }
     // Do not convert in case of character length mismatch only, hlfir.assign
     // deals with it.
     if (!toKindCharConvert)
diff --git a/flang/test/Lower/HLFIR/implicit-type-conversion-allocatable.f90 b/flang/test/Lower/HLFIR/implicit-type-conversion-allocatable.f90
index 7083a825dfd3b..361cd61adea2d 100644
--- a/flang/test/Lower/HLFIR/implicit-type-conversion-allocatable.f90
+++ b/flang/test/Lower/HLFIR/implicit-type-conversion-allocatable.f90
@@ -38,3 +38,29 @@ subroutine preserve_lbounds(x, y)
 ! CHECK:           hlfir.destroy %[[VAL_8]] : !hlfir.expr<?xi32>
 ! CHECK:           return
 ! CHECK:         }
+
+! Test that RHS character length is preserved in a character KIND
+! conversion before the assignment.
+subroutine kind_and_length(a, b)
+  character(len=4,kind=4), allocatable :: a(:)
+  character(len=2,kind=1) :: b(:)
+  a = b
+end subroutine
+! CHECK-LABEL:   func.func @_QPkind_and_length(
+! CHECK:         %[[VAL_2:.*]] = arith.constant 4 : index
+! CHECK:         %[[VAL_3:.*]]:2 = hlfir.declare %[[VAL_0:[a-z0-9]*]] typeparams %[[VAL_2:[a-z0-9]*]]  {{.*}}Ea
+! CHECK:         %[[VAL_4:.*]] = arith.constant 2 : index
+! CHECK:         %[[VAL_5:.*]]:2 = hlfir.declare %[[VAL_1:[a-z0-9]*]] typeparams %[[VAL_4:[a-z0-9]*]]  {{.*}}Eb
+! CHECK:         %[[VAL_6:.*]] = arith.constant 0 : index
+! CHECK:         %[[VAL_7:.*]]:3 = fir.box_dims %[[VAL_5]]#0, %[[VAL_6]] : (!fir.box<!fir.array<?x!fir.char<1,2>>>, index) -> (index, index, index)
+! CHECK:         %[[VAL_8:.*]] = fir.shape %[[VAL_7]]#1 : (index) -> !fir.shape<1>
+! CHECK:         %[[VAL_9:.*]] = hlfir.elemental %[[VAL_8]] typeparams %[[VAL_4]] unordered : (!fir.shape<1>, index) -> !hlfir.expr<?x!fir.char<4,2>> {
+! CHECK:         ^bb0(%[[VAL_10:.*]]: index):
+! CHECK:           %[[VAL_11:.*]] = hlfir.designate %[[VAL_5]]#0 (%[[VAL_10]])  typeparams %[[VAL_4]] : (!fir.box<!fir.array<?x!fir.char<1,2>>>, index, index) -> !fir.ref<!fir.char<1,2>>
+! CHECK:           %[[VAL_12:.*]] = fir.alloca !fir.char<4,?>(%[[VAL_4]] : index)
+! CHECK:           fir.char_convert %[[VAL_11]] for %[[VAL_4]] to %[[VAL_12]] : !fir.ref<!fir.char<1,2>>, index, !fir.ref<!fir.char<4,?>>
+! CHECK:           %[[VAL_13:.*]]:2 = hlfir.declare %[[VAL_12:[a-z0-9]*]] typeparams %[[VAL_4:[a-z0-9]*]] {uniq_name = ".temp.kindconvert"} : (!fir.ref<!fir.char<4,?>>, index) -> (!fir.boxchar<4>, !fir.ref<!fir.char<4,?>>)
+! CHECK:           hlfir.yield_element %[[VAL_13]]#0 : !fir.boxchar<4>
+! CHECK:         }
+! CHECK:         hlfir.assign %[[VAL_9]] to %[[VAL_3]]#0 realloc keep_lhs_len : !hlfir.expr<?x!fir.char<4,2>>, !fir.ref<!fir.box<!fir.heap<!fir.array<?x!fir.char<4,4>>>>>
+