Got this from Car Design News website:

Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital and the geographical centre of Western Europe, is an area already home to design studios from GM and Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Mazda and Mitsubishi. Following in the wake of the recent announcement of GM’s new studio there, the city will now also become home to another one from Kia. The state-of-the-art design centre will be fully independent from its sister company, Hyundai Motors, marking a significant change in strategy as all their other studios are jointly operated. With its separate facility, Kia Motors aims to further strengthen its goal of designing high quality vehicles, delivering Eurocentric style and performance in line with the needs and desires of European customers.

These latest plans signal Kia’s continuing commitment to the continent, which this year became Kia’s largest export market. The construction of the integrated building for Kia Motors Europe’s new headquarters and design centre is expected to be finished by February 2007, while interviews are already underway to fill it. Curr¬ently, the jointly operated Hyundai-Kia European R&D Center is located just outside Frankfurt in Russelsheim, close to GM.

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szw said,

September 19, 2006 @ 8:04 pm

da exterior looks nice but da interior too over design

p/s i am driving both a P2 and a Korean car…

Technically it’s still the dog eating Korean crap. Sheesh gimme a break.
”

Wow…thats mature….really really matured…..

Before you hand out such a blanket statement, some reasoning is warranted. Why do you think its that bad?

I’ve driven quite a few of them and even the last generation Korean cars would embarass P1’s build quality. True some of the cheaper models may be built to a price. It feels cheap…but the thing is, it IS CHEAP. (and please dont use m’sian prices to compare, its artificial)

Do you like it or not? Do you want it or not? What engine size? What pricing? What features? If so write down here so hopefully their R&D can read and take note.

that is soooooooooooooooo not a kia…..
how to see that coming from the same guys who made the crap rio??!!!
whoaaaaaaa!!!!

_____________________________________________________________________

Because some people have the desire to improve, while “others” just wait for handouts!!

Peace, man!

Nice renders. What did they use? An SGI running some obscure yet technically excellent rendering engine? Being a concept car, I wonder which part of this concept is going into final production. If Paul could show a concept and its production brethren, we could have a historical comparison. Because of the Teutonian input, its gonna cost a wee bit coz Kia have to pay for these designs.

.G. TAN of Cheras is upset that Naza Motor Trading Sdn Bhd had refused to repair the defects on his new BMW735i.

“When I bought the car from Naza in June 2005, a few faults were noted upon delivery but they were rectified a week later. I was assured by the sales manager that the car comes with a one-year warranty.

“But last May, some faults appeared again, among which was the airbag fault that was noted in June last year.

“I obtained a quotation from Naza’s appointed workshop the same month, but it took Naza one month to tell me that they cannot approve the repairs. The reason given was that the warranty covers the engine and gearbox but not airbags,” says TAN.

Surprised and furious, TAN says he wrote to Naza on Aug 9 explaining the situation and requested that the company make good on their promise and warranty.

He says on Aug 16, Naza replied ‘Without Prejudice’, reiterating that their warranty covers only faulty engines and gearboxes and that repairs won’t be made.

“The amount for repairs is RM1,200, which I can afford, but to be cheated out of a warranty is unacceptable.”

NAZA Corporation Sdn Bhd senior executive for client management division, Dennis Michael, said the company has approved a goodwill warranty amounting to RM1,200 for TAN.

“The customer has has agreed to sendthe vehicle for rectification,” he says.

Remind me of the malaysian couterpart…

Almost every post of a new concept/new car, we always get , “..oh this looks like that car, that looks like this car”.

I’m sure we can comment on a higher lvl than that. I can see some posters get the idea and thats what makes the difference.

When I see a new concept, I try to see the emotion and purpose that the designer wanted to convey. Often, pictures do little justice to a concept. No designer in thier right mind would want to copy another car.

Of course, I’m not naive to ignore some rather blatant copies around (ie. some chinese cars).