Category: Kia

Kia has announced the 200,000th Cee’d compact model had rolled off the production line, just 18 months after its launch. It’s far from the Golf or 308 sales results, but  for a Korean car it’s good news.

The Cee’d is Kia’s attempt to take on the established European rivals by selling a model tailored to European tastes and European buyers seem to have answered positively to the new model. Its seven year warranty likely convinced hesitating customers. However car qualities mustn’t be ignored. Like Japanese carmakers previously, Korean companies are focusing on the European market.

“This is another truly significant day for Kia,’ enthused Mr In-Kyu Bae, President and CEO Kia Motors Slovakia.  “We produced our 100,000th cee’d last September, only 10 months after start-up, and with the addition of the cee’d wagon and pro_cee’d three-door hatch we have reached our 200,000th cee’d after only eight more months. “

The Cee’d is built at  the Zilina factory in Slovakia which employs 2,748 people.

Kia has announced it will unveil a new model at the next British motor show.

In an attempt to impress British customers, more open than Continental Europeans to Asian models, Kia will bring its past concept cars to the British motor show. it will include the Soul Burner, Soul Diva, Soul Searcher, the four-seat Kee coupe and rag-top ex_cee’d. Some observers might say that the company has nothing new to unveil at the motor show, but the carmaker also announced a surprise.

Kia has chosen London to make a very special announcement about a forthcoming product, due on sale in the UK in 2009. Will it be the production version of the Kee coupé?

Kia has announced that the future Soul model will be launched in the US and in China next year. Europe wasn’t mentioned.

Kia had previewed the Soul at the Geneva Motor Show. Unfortunately, the carmaker seems to have no plan to bring the car to Europe soon as American and Chinese markets will be a priority for the carmaker. A front-wheel drive, the Kia Soul is powered by a 2.0-litre petrol engine hooked up to a five-speed automatic gearbox with manual shift mode.

The Soul is part of a plan to revamp the carmaker’s brand image on the American market. The Korean brand wants to appeal to trendy American buyers. In addition to the Soul, Kia will launch the Borrego SUV which will be powred by the first carmaker’s V8 engine. In Europe, the carmaker will launch a coupé at the last year Frankfurt Motor Show based on the Cee’d model that takes its styling cues from the Kee concept car.

Kia has just unveiled its Kia Soul concept cars at Geneva that pictures of the production version are emerging on the Internet.

The Korean carmaker planned to unveil the production version at the next Paris Motor Show in October, but pictures of the upcoming model have emerged on the Internet. As planned, the production version is close to the three concept cars seen at Geneva. The design tries to combine the best of two worlds, minivan and SUV, but the result looks like more of a combination of a Saab concept car and a Scion xB. At least, the carmaker tries to innovate.

Due to be sold in the US, the Soul will compete with the Scion xB, Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix. In Europe, the Kia’s crossover will fight with the upcoming Toyota Urban Cruiser and the Nissan Qashqai.

Kia has just unveiled its Kia Soul concept cars at Geneva that pictures of the production version are emerging on the Internet.

The Korean carmaker planned to unveil the production version at the next Paris Motor Show in October, but pictures of the upcoming model have emerged on the Internet. As planned, the production version is close to the three concept cars seen at Geneva. The design tries to combine the best of two worlds, minivan and SUV, but the result looks like more of a combination of a Saab concept car and a Scion xB. At least, Kia tries to innovate.

Due to be sold in the US, the Soul will compete with the Scion xB, Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix. In Europe, the Kia’s crossover will fight with the upcoming Toyota Urban Cruiser and the Nissan Qashqai.

Until now, Kia had only unveiled a picture of the rear end of one of the three versions of its Soul concept car. Thanks to our Dutch friends, here is a picture of the car that Kia will unveil at Geneva.

As predicted, the Soul is intended to take on the Scion models and sports a similar design, boxy and unpleasant. As reported previously, this versions called Burner, is the naughty one of the three versions. Unfortunately, one does wonder where to see the boldness of the car. A bold car today wouldn’t be a model offering high personalization and tattoos but a car that would be aggressive, provocative…

The Soul Burner is a nice attempt from Kia to position its future Scion competitor, but being bold means more than offering tattoos. A bold design would be a good start.

Source: Autoweek.nl

Kia has unveiled a teaser of the Soul concept car which previews the future Soul model set to compete with the Scion brand on the American market and who knows who in Europe.

Actually, Kia won’t reveal one, but three Soul concept cars, each of them with a distinct personality. The pictured teaser reveals the Soul Burner destined for the “bad boys” which comes with with satin black finish and gloss dragon tattoos.

With those three concept cars, Kia shows the direction taken for the future Soul model. Following the example of the Scion brand launched by Toyota in the US, the Korean carmaker wants to offer a high level of personalization at time when future growth for carmakers is expected to come from accessories.

Kia has inaugurated its second Chinese factory built in collaboration with its Chinese partner, Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motor. The new factory will add a capacity of 300,000 vehicles to the 130,000 units already built by the Yangcheng’s factory.

Although being inaugurated yesterday, the production has already started since October. Kia produces the Cerato in two variants, a saloon and a hatchback destined for the local market. With the new factory, Kia plans to increase its market share from 1.6% to 8% in the future. Unfortunately, Kia sales have been gloomy since the beginning of the year. While the car maker delivered 115,000 cars in 2006, only 90,000 vehicles have been delivered until now for the current year.

Source: Korea Herald