Latest Kia concept car to make its debut at Paris Motor Show When Kia’s designers created the cee’d ‘sporty hatch,’ they set out to maximise the differentiation between the five-door and three-door cee’d models as much as possible, without losing the family likeness. Exterior – the same, but strikingly different Consequently, the pro_cee’d actually looks [...]
Kia has announced the first details of its new global flagship, the 2007 Opirus although it seems that global is a relative term because it’s only being released in a left-hand drive version. Kia suggest that significant improvements have been made to the ride, handling, safety and refinement, while Opirus now weighs less and delivers [...]
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries announced today new car sales continue to lag behind sales for the same time last year. 1079 fewer new vehicles were sold during July than for July 2005. That monthly drop now means that 3.1% fewer new cars have been sold so far this year compared to the same [...]
The 2006 Kia Rio/Rio5 ranked highest for initial quality in the sub-compact category according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Initial Quality StudySM (IQS). The annual report, released yesterday, measures 217 vehicle attributes across eight categories, including driving experience, engine and transmission, and a broad range of quality problem symptoms reported by vehicle owners. [...]
The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group ranks as the sixth largest automotive manufacturer in the world, according to the Detroit-based weekly Automotive News. In Automotive News’ most recent survey of global automotive sales and production, Hyundai Motor Co. and its subsidiary Kia Motors Corp. registered an 11.6 percent jump in global sales in 2005 to 3,715,096 units. [...]
It seems that it could be Kia with 75,474 vehicles sold overseas in May – an 8.2% increase on sales for the same time last year. Sales in Europe are up 12% and sales in United States were up 6.4%. At the same time Volkswagen reported a 35.6% increase in sales in May in the [...]
Honda has announced plans to have a completely new manufacturing plant on line in 2009 to produce 150,000 Civics and Fit models for the North American market. Reports suggest that the new plant will have the capacity to increase production to 300,000 models a year bringing Honda’s total capacity in North America to something around [...]
The all-new Carnival MPV (known as ‘Sedona’ in some markets) has earned the highest possible safety rating — five stars — for all seating positions in the latest frontal and side impact crash tests by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Completely redesigned for the 2006 model year, the all-new [...]
It’s a seven seater MPV and it’s soon to make it’s debut at the Madrid Motor Show Kia Motors Corporation today issued a ‘preview sketch’ of its exciting all-new Carens compact MPV (to be named ‘Rondo’ in North America), and confirmed that this model will make its world premiere at the forthcoming Salon International del [...]
In another blow to the US car manufacturers Kia announced yesterday that it will be investing $1.2 billion dollars in an automotive assembly plant in West Point Georgia. The new plant will employ 2,500 workers and come on stream in 2009. At full capacity the plant will be turning out 300,000 vehicles every year. Kia [...]
Ice racing is hardly likely to catch on here in Australia any time soon but in Europe it certainly does have a following where a Kia Rio driver has just beaten an F1 driver to take out the championship. The win gives Kia Riao it’s third consecutive series win. Kia Rio driver, Yvan Muller, has [...]
The Kia Cerato has received the “Most Delightful Vehicle of 2005″ award in the small car division from Strategic Vision, a US company that has been running the awards since 1996. Strategic Vision measures the experience of approximately 90,000 new vehicle owners annually. According to Strategic Vision, the results give the industry actionable information about [...]
If you’re thinking of buying a small car and price is the only consideration then here are a few baseline prices that might interest you. Ford Fiesta $13,990 Holden Barina (a rebadged Daewoo Kalos) $12,990 Hyunda Getz $13,990 Kia Rio $14990 Toyota Yaris $14,990 So obviously the Holden Barina is definitely going to interest you [...]
Kia have annouced their 2006 Kia Optima in the US. The new model is part of Kia’s plan to completely regenerate the Kia product line-up. The car comes with a longer wheelbase, wider track, increased horsepower, better fuel economy and improved driving dynamics. The 2006 Optima also comes with six airbags as standard but other [...]
Motoring journalists do not have an easy job. You might think that there would better job than driving around in new cars all the time. But it must be so difficult to remain objective about each individual car when you do that all the time. I mean how can you remain objective about a Kia [...]
A jury of influential motoring writers from 12 Eastern European countries has voted the Kia Rio winner of the prestigious ‘Autobest 2006’ award for being ‘the new car most suitable for the needs of the population of the region, thoroughly modern with new technology and affordable to buy.’ Announcing the 2006 winner, Autobest Chairman Mr. [...]
In a major announcement the chairman of Hyundai Automotive Group revealed that by 2015 is aims to be selling 100,000 Hyundai and 50,000 Kia cars in Australia. The chairman, Chung Mong-koo suggested that by the end of 2007 the company would be selling 70,000 units in Australia and by 2010 it would have doubled it’s [...]
Kia Motors receives $10 billion Export Tower Award – Kia is only the third manufacturing company to receive $10 billion annual export distinction Kia Motors Corporation announced today that it has received the $10 Billion Export Tower Award from the Korean government, thereby reaching one of the most significant milestones in its history — surpassing [...]
It may not be widely known but Kia and Hyundai are both owned by the same parent company. Although the marketing of both brands is kept entirely separate and here in Australia it would be rare to find a Kia dealership and a Hyundai dealership under the same roof there is a lot of Hyundai [...]
