Aussie Motoring

Have you ever wondered what happens when a manufacturer releases a new car? Well here’s a behind the scenes look at the way Kia in America introduced their new 4WD Borrego to the motoring press.

This is not a replacement for an existing vehicle

Kia Motors Corporation has confirmed that its all-new production model, the Kia Soul, will be marketed globally with a choice of three highly efficient engines (depending on individual markets), when it goes on sale in early 2009.

The most powerful engine will be a 2-litre gasoline unit.  A smaller capacity 1.6-litre gasoline engine will be offered in most countries, alongside a 1.6-litre diesel engine featuring a VGT (variable geometry turbocharger).

Both the 1.6-litre, four cylinder, 16-valve DOHC power units are based closely on engines fitted to the hugely successful, European-built, Kia cee’d.

Kia has also confirmed that the new model, which will be available exclusively as a five-door hatchback with front-wheel drive, will have an overall length of 4,105 mm, and a 2,550 mm wheelbase. Height will be 1,610 mm and width 1,785mm – excluding door mirrors.

To be manufactured in Korea from November 2008 for overseas markets, the Kia Soul will defy conventions and appeal especially to the young and the young-at-heart – whatever their age.

Kia Soul is not a replacement for an existing vehicle and is destined to play a unique role within Kia’s global product line-up.  Kia Soul will provide a creative platform for buyers to individualise and match their car to their own personality.

The World Premiere of the Kia Soul will be celebrated on 2 October 2008 at the Paris Motor Show.  The exciting new Kia model is scheduled to go on sale in Europe during February 2009, with sales in the USA and remaining overseas markets beginning in April 2009.

Earlier this month we reported on the latest car sale figures for the Australian market in May but not every country … nor every segment … was as bouyant as the Australian market was in May. In once instance the impact of falling sales has led to some serious re-thinking of future plans.

General Motors experienced a 37% drop in the sale of SUVs and vans in the United States during May and, when you consider that GM makes more money from the sale of SUVs than it does from conventional vehicles, it’s no wonder that GM is re-thinking its future strategy.

GM did have a team of engineers working on developing fuel-saving technologies for their SUVs with a view to introducing them by 2012 but no more. The team has been dispanded and re-assigned to other projects and General Motors may soon be making changing it’s focus from SUVs to more fuel efficient cars.

Volkswagen is also experiencing some problems in what it describes as “a difficult market environment”. While sales are surging in China they are falling when taken on a worldwide basis. VW reported a drop in of 0.8 percent in worldwide sales in May.

Kia on the other hand reported a 16.5% increase in worldwide sales during May with large increases in all markets. Most noteable were a 56.8 percent increase in sales to China, an 8.8 percent increase in sales to Europe and an 8.6 percent increase in sales to North America.

Kia has unveiled its first mid-sized SUV for the first time. The Kia Borrego is expected to go on sale in Korea early next year with overseas sales commencing around the middle of the year.

The Kia Borrego features a body-on-frame construction and will have seating for up to seven occupants. The Borrego will be powered by a V6 and, in some markets, a V8 will be offered as an opption

The Kia Borrego is named after a bighorn sheep native to California.

Kia has been toying with motoring enthusiasts for a couple of months now by releasing vague photos of their new concept car. Today, at the Frankfurt Motor Show they pulled back the veil and now we can see what Kia has been hiding.

With its broad stance and low profile, Kee is a new interpretation of the 2+2 coupe, with a simple yet distinctive outline thanks to its long sweeping bonnet, slightly lengthened cabin with striking graphic treatment, sculpted flanks and strong lines.

Kee lays down very clear indications of how future Kia vehicles should look and displays elements that its creators will transfer to future Kia products. Presented as part of the strong frontal design with its distinctive headlamps and eye-catching LED cluster, the new style grille will become the new ‘face of Kia’ across our product range.

Inside, Kee looks and feels like a true sports car. The cabin is designed for maximum focus on driving. Clustered directly ahead of the driver, the main dials and controls are simple and straightforward, utilising Kia’s new standard red-orange illumination.

Behind the square-bottomed steering wheel are paddles to shift the six-speed semi-automatic sequential gearbox. Instead of a standard gear stick an ergonomically designed lever sits atop the milled aluminium centre console and requires only a nudge forward or backward to select the desired drive mode. And the top of the computer mouse-like lever flips up to reveal the electronic starter button.

All the main interior surfaces are covered in semi-suede microfibre materials and the body-hugging sports seats use a hard-wearing but distinctive metallic-finish silver cloth. And continuing the real-life functionality of Kee, the rear of the 2+2 cabin is sufficiently spacious to allow two adult passengers to travel on individual seats in the back of the vehicle whenever necessary.

The design team has concentrated on producing a realistic sports coupe. Every element of its design is clear, easy to understand and to use. All the main controls are fly-by wire, but their feel in operation has been created to deliver a sense of traditional operation. For example, the toggle switches mounted on the dashboard – echoing the DNA of generations of sports cars – let you navigate intuitively through the interface menu of the info-media center.

Kia Kee - Technical Specifications

Length 4325 mm

Width 1860 mm

Height 1315 mm

Wheelbase 2675 mm

Tyre size 245/40 R20

Engine V6 2.7-litre MUE-II

Maximum Power 200 ps

Transmission Six-speed automatic

Kia Motors Australia has issued a recall for around 2,300 Sportage vehicles built between November 2001 and December 2002.

It seems that high temperatures in the engine bay have caused some fan blades to become brittle and break. Kia will replace the faulty fan blades free of charge.

Update - the Kia Kee has now been released at the Frankfurt Motor Show and you can see much clearer photos and the technical details here

Kia has released another teaser photo of their new 2+2 sports coupe and has announced that this new coupe will incorporate “a host of elements that will become the new face of Kia right across our product range”.

Just what those elements are will have to remain a ’secret’ until Kia unveil their new sports coupe at the Frankfurt International Motor Show on September 11.

We’ve always been a nation of big car buyers. There was a time when you weren’t a real man unless you drove a six cylinder, a V8 or even a big 4WD and you could have been considered unpatriotic if you drove anything but a car built in Australia - unless of course you were driving that big 4WD that looked like a tank and could pull the side off a mountain.

But times change, pain in your hip pocket can cause you to make decisions that reflect on your manhood and your patriotism and now we’re beginning to see change in the buying habits of Australian motorists … and the local manufacturers have been caught flat-footed.

Sales of Imported Cars Surge
In the period January to June this year - at a time when new car sales were increasing substantially - less than 20% of cars sold were actually built in Australia. Ford and Mitsubishi were the hardest hit as Australian car buyers looked overseas for their next new car.

Sales of light and small cars continued to climb as did sales of smaller 4WDs. Sales of small 4WD models are up by over 18% while sales of big 4WDs have dropped by over 13%.

And this trend will only continue to become stronger. The strong Aussie dollar means that imports from overseas are cheaper, the rising cost of fuel - tipped to be $100 a barrel by year’s end - will reinforce the appeal of smaller cars and another rise in interest rates tipped for August will further impact on the sales of big cars.

Manufacturers’ Response
And where are the manufacturers in all of this. Toyota is doing very well with it’s Aurion and Camry models but Holden has the VE Commodore with a fuel consumption that hasn’t improved in years. Ford has a new Falcon coming out next year that is just another big car and Mitsubishi is revamping its 380 - a car that hasn’t sold well in the past and probably never will.

It seems that there’s just more pain on the horizon for the local manufacturers. Admittedly Ford has announced that it will begin production of the Ford Focus here in Australia but that won’t begin to happen till 2011 - the first smalal car to be built in Australia since 1999 - and you might be forgiven for wondering if, in today’s ever-changing world, Ford Australia can last that long.

Meanwhile more and more small cars are coming in from overseas as savvy manufacturers take advantage of the Australian car makers inability to respond to market trends and things are only set to get worse for the big car makers when Kia launches it’s new cee’d range later this year. Trendy economical small cars like the Kia cee’d hatch and cabrio will become even more appealing to Australian car buyers.

A new plant and a new car

by Stuart Livesey

A new car every 57 seconds, 34 new cars every hour, 822 new cars every day, 24,657 new cars every month, 300,000 new cars every year … the figures are staggering. But that’s the output that Kia expects to achieve from their new plant in Zilina, Slovakia.

The plant began production in December 2006 after a 1 billion euro investment by Kia. Production has been slowly increasing since then; the plant turned out 12,000 units in March and the target for May is 14,000 units.

When the plant is in full production it will be employing a workforce of around 10,000 and will be producing just one vehicle - the Kia cee’d. Initial production is focused on the four-door version but the plant will begin to turn out the five door cee’d wagon in August and the three-door cee3′d will begin to appear in December.

In Europe the cee’d is being offered with a whopping 7 year/150,000km warranty that covers the entire car for five years and the power train for an additional two.

You can expect to see the Kia cee’d in Australia before the end of the year.

Kia Motors Corporation is staging the world premiere of its all-new KND-4 concept car today (Thursday) at the Seoul International Motor Show.

Designed to reassert Kia’s credentials as a leading brand in the 4×4 and RV vehicle sectors, the new SUV concept car projects a dynamic, powerful character and exudes a strong sense of individuality. Although clearly a ‘concept car,’ the Luminous Green, three-door, 4466mm-long KND-4 gives a bold hint at how future Kia compact SUV models might look.

It’s obviously a very different SUV and you can find all the details plus more pictures by following the Kia KND-4 link.