Archive for Kia

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The facelifted Kia Optima (known as the Magentis in Europe) is now on sale in the Korean market as the Kia Lotze Innovation. Interestingly Kia has decided to offer two different stylings for the car like what Honda is doing with its Accord. One has a more mature styling (the original) while the other is sportier, but strangely Kia has decided to offer both in the same market.

The previous design is now called the Kia Lotze Advance while the new car is called the Kia Lotze Innovation. Perhaps this is because there are some who prefer the more grown-up outlook of the pre-facelift car.

Look after the jump for more details on the facelifted Lotze.

Click here to read the rest of Kia Lotze Innovation: facelifted Optima in Korea

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Four official product photos of the new Kia Forte sedan has been released by Kia. It will hit Korean showrooms first in August 2008, with the rest of the world to get it later, including Malaysia as a new Cerato or Forte sedan. The current Cerato is sold here as a 5-door hatch, but a sedan from this current generation is not likely to be introduced with Naza Kia management most probably deciding to skip the current generation Cerato sedan and going straight for this new Forte.

The new Kia Forte is more angular and up to date with current design trends compared to its predecessor. While Europe gets the cee’d, this model is the cee’d’s equivalent for the rest of the world. So while exterior styling is radically different from the cee’d (which is a hatch in the first place), expect the interior to follow the cee’d’s interior design closely. It’s quite good looking indeed.

The rear looks like the current generation Hyundai Elantra we have here in our market, but the shoulder profile thankfully misses the odd Audi A5-like wave that the Elantra has. The front end sports Kia’s new corporate nose that is also found on the facelifted Optima.

1.6 liter and 2.0 liter CVVT engines will be offered, but the cee’d’s 1.6 liter VGT turbodiesel is a question mark at this point as the markets where this car will be introduced are not really mad about diesel.

Kia intends to introduce a two-door coupe version of this Forte later, which will more closely resemble the KIA KOUP Concept that this Forte was based on.

View three more photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of First photos of new Kia Forte sedan

The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has now set foot in the top 5 automakers list globally, moving up from 6th place to the current 5th place with annual sales of 3,961,629 units in the year 2007 according to the 2008 Global Data Book by Automotive News.

The following are the top 10 list ranked by the 2008 GDB:

Sales of CKD kits to CKD partners for assembly and sales such as Malaysian Kia distributor Naza Kia Sdn Bhd are not counted in the number above and adds up to another 185,114 units.

We still see the Kia Spectra from one generation ago on our roads as an alternative priced close to Proton sedans, and have the 5-door latest generation Kia Spectra in locally assembled form, but Kia is gearing up for the launch of the latest generation Kia Spectra sedan with the release of these two teaser images of a car they call the Kia Forte.

From the looks of it it will be quite obvious that the new Spectra or Forte will be a four-door version of the hot-looking Kia KOUP Concept showcased not too long ago. The front design depicts Kia’s new corporate grille which made its world premiere in concept form on the KOUP, and in production form on the facelifted Optima.

Perhaps a coupe version that is similiar to the original KOUP Concept will come later? The new Spectra will likely share many components with its C-segment sibling, the Kia cee’d including a similiar dashboard design.

It looks quite sleek and sporty, perhaps Naza Kia should skip any plans it might have for a current generation Spectra sedan and wait for this one! View two more images showing the side profile and front grille after the jump.

Related Posts:
Kia KOUP Concept
Facelifted 2009 Kia Optima

Click here to read the rest of Kia Forte teasers preview next generation Spectra

Kia Motors will produce the Kia SOUL Concept, which will retain its concept name and be called the production Kia Soul. It will be unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. It doesn’t just retain its name, the production version (as shown in the teaser images released by Kia in this post) retains most of how the SOUL Concept looked like.

It looks like a cross between a Suzuki Swift on the side profile including the blacked out A and B pillar, and a Daihatsu Sirion/Perodua Myvi on the rear. The ride height looks slightly high, which leads me to believe this is pretty much a Korean competitor to the likes of the Suzuki SX4, Fiat Sedici and Volkswagen CrossPolo.

Two more images after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Kia to unveil production Kia Soul at Paris 2008

This has got to be the most bizarre attempt at a viral video that an automaker has ever come up with. Kia’s seemingly completely random video featuring tennis personality Rafael Nadal and the Kia pro_cee’d 3-door hatchback first shows Nadal playing a tennis match against an alien. Which seems normal enough.

Then the alien sprouts multiple hands, sending a barrage of tennis balls across the court to Nadal, followed by a football. The tennis match suddenly becomes a football match. Suddenly four mini-Nadals come out of Nadal, they do a little “dance” and proceed with a Voltron-ish transformation sequence. Nadal then puts his fists into the mouths and his feet into the butts of the mini-Nadals, and “joins” with them.

UPDATE: Kia has updated the video with a version that shows the mini-Nadal Voltron “shoes” hold on to his feet rather than Nadal wearing them like shoes. I’ve updated the video in good faith to reflect the new version at the request of Kia Motors.

After defeating the alien by kicking a football through it and into the goal, Nadal then transforms into a Kia pro_cee’d, which drives away.

Don’t believe it? Watch the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Kia’s bizarre Nadal versus Alien video

The Korean domestic market Kia Sportage gets a different exterior look than the facelift that we received last year. The Korean Sportage gets a more Rondo/c’eed-like look on the front end.

Two engine options with a total of three variants are available in Korea - a 2.0 liter CVVT petrol engine with a 2WD drivetrain, or a 2.0 liter turbodiesel with a Variable Geometry turbocharger available with either a 2WD or 4WD drivetrain.

The turbodiesel engine is the more powerful one, putting out 151 PS at 3,800rpm and 320Nm of torque at 2,000rpm as opposed to the petrol engine’s 142 PS at 6000rpm and 188Nm of torque at 4,500rpm.

More images of the KDM Sportage after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Kia Sportage for Korean Domestic Market

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Kia Motors has unveiled a revolutionary driving control system with an update to the Kia KEE concept called the Kia KEE_wii.

Instead of a conventional steering, accelerator and brake pedals, the Kia KEE_wii uses a small ‘controller which fits comfortably into two hands. Making steering motions with the small controller will turn the car in whichever direction the driver likes whilst accelerator and brakes are button operated.

An added benefit is that passengers can take the controls and enjoy the dynamic drive of the KEE_wii from any seat in the car.

To counter the reduced visibility faced by a “driver” sitting in the back seats, Kia has developed a new system called the Independent Driver Input Operating Technique that utilises radar to avoid accidents.

Related Posts:
Kia Kee 2+2 Sports Coupe Concept

Kia has given the Kia Optima some changes to the front and rear that gives the sedan a drastic all new look and feel - from a grown-up mature executive sedan into something younger and sportier, much like the USDM Accord turned into the Euro Accord. The front now no longer looks like a shorter version of the Kia Sportage, but takes on a design similiar to the Kia KOUP Concept.

Aside from the obvious new front headlamps, grille, and rear lamp cluster treatment, the Optima also gets a new front bumper with a lower air intake split into 3 instead of one large one, LED wing mirror turn signals, and a new meter panel on the inside featuring a triple-pod design much like the Mazda 3 or the Honda City.

The 2.0 liter CVVT Theta II engine now puts out 158 PS (likely 163 PS in the Korean market just like the facelifted Sonata), and the 2.4 liter also gets a 15% power upgrade to 161 horsepower. The top of the range 2.7 liter V6 now puts out 190 horses and 250Nm. These engines now gain Dual CVVT on both intake and exhaust, an upgrade of the previous single CVVT on the intake side, as well as a variable length intake manifold.

On the inside, there is of course the new meter panel I mentioned. Other than that, sat-nav is now an option with the Optima.

Look after the jump for plenty more photos.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 Kia Optima Facelift unveiled at NYIAS 2008

This nice red coupe which reminds me a little of the European market Honda Civic hatch was showcased by Kia Motors at the 2008 New York International Auto Show, and it is called the Kia KOUP Concept. It actually looks very production ready, and only needs a more toned down interior (or maybe not?) with more production ready head lamps and tail lamps and you can already imagine it being driven on roads.

The front wheel drive, front engined coupe is powered by a turbocharged direct injected version of the 2.0 liter Hyundai/Kia Theta II engine (derived from the GEMA engine family), which produces 290 horsepower and a wide torque spread of 392Nm over 2,000rpm to 4,000rpm.

The front suspension is the usual MacPherson strut system while the rear is an independent dual link design. The Kia KOUP also features Continuous Damping Control - not sure what it does but Kia says it helps with the vehicle’s handling.

Check out more photos and a video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Kia KOUP Concept shown at NYIAS 2008