A production version of the funky Kia Soul has been spotted on a trailer somewhere in Europe. Kia previously announced that it would launch the Kia Soul in 2008 as a 2009 model.
If you look at the spyshot, it looks like the production version of the small front-wheel drive five-seater SUV loses the suicide-style rear-hinged rear doors that the Kia Soul concept had.
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Kia to produce 2009 Kia Soul crossover
As previously reported, Naza has unveiled a locally assembled version of the Kia Sportage. One suprise that might come to some is that Naza has kept the Kia badge on this one, unlike it’s previous moves rebadging the Carnival, Sorento and Picanto as the Naza Ria, Naza Sorento and Naza Suria respectively.
This leads me to believe Naza might be changing it’s marketing strategy for its locally assembled Kia cars, or perhaps it is a licensing issue, or perhaps some models will always remain a Kia, locally assembled or not.
The new locally assembled Kia Sportage features a 2.0 liter DOHC CVVT (Continuously Variable Valve Timing) engine making 142 PS at 6,000rpm and 184Nm of torque at 4,500rpm mated to a 4-speed Shiftronic automatic gearbox. It’s 4WD system is Kia’s Active Torque Transfer 4WD with manual override.
Wheels are 16 inch split-spoke alloys, and other specs include reverse sensors, chrome inner dor handles, dual SRS airbags, antilock brakes, traction contol, a Saturn Black interior with metal grain trim, an MP3-capable 2-DIN head unit with both USB and AUX input matched to a 6-speaker system, a trip computer, real aluminium trim assist grip, fog lamps, as well as signal lamps on the wing mirrors.
It’s available in four colours - Smart Blue, Satin Silver, Black Cherry and Natural Olive. The Kia Sportage scored 5 Stars on the American NHSTA NCAP crash test.
It goes for RM112,000. Dealers have been taking bookings since mid-April 2007.
Kia has given their Kia Picanto A-segment product a mid-life facelift in efforts to keep it fresh until the next generation Picanto is released. The new facelifted Kia Picanto takes on many design cues from the new Kia Cee’d range of cars on both the inside and outside. The new Kia front look combined with the Picanto’s height makes it look like a miniature Kia Rondo now. The new facelifted Picanto is 40 mm longer, with an overall length of 3535 mm, featuring an extended, rounded nose and deeper, larger rear bumper. Wheel design seems to have been ripped off from the Alfa Romeo dial design or the Golf GTI’s design, something that Proton recently abandoned with the new slightly updated Proton GEN2 sold in the UK.
Now that the Kia Picanto has been facelifted, will we be able to get this new facelift here, or will we have to make due with a slightly aftermarketish-look-modified Kia Picanto badged as the Naza Suria?
More photos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Kia unveils Kia Picanto Facelift
Autocar managed to get a glimpse of Kia’s high performance label to be called the XR range, in Korea near Kia’s headquarters last week. It’s still a concept though - just a standard Kia Cee’d with an XR bodykit, but Kia says both turbo and supercharged engines are under development for use in the XR range. Check out Autocar’s gallery for photos of the Kia Cee’d they snapped in Korea at the preview.
Kia is addressing the different customer demands of it’s two biggest markets - the American and European markets with this dual performance engine strategy. The supercharged engines would be aimed at the US market, while the turbocharged engines will be aimed at the European market.
Spyshots of the Kia Cee’d XR have previously been spotted. Check out spyshots in the related posts below:
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Kia Cee’d XR
This is Kia’s entry into Taxi ‘07, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the modern-day taxi in New York City. Kia worked with a consortium of NYC-based design firms led by Smart Design to build two Rondo taxi prototypes. A more legible taxi roof light was developed, which quickly communicates the cabs availability in a variety of lighting situations.
On the interior, there is an L-shaped partition to protect the driver while creating a more open social environment for the passengers. There are also accessibility features for those with impaired mobility - a Bruno motorized front passenger seat.
More photos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Kia Rondo Taxi Concept
The first of the few Naza models previous mentioned that are to be unveiled this year is now known. A visit to a Naza Kia showroom has revealed that dealers now have the price lists for a locally assembled Kia Sportage, and it remains badged as a Kia, not a Naza. Here are specs, which I think are very decent:
Prices have dropped from the fully imported Sportage’s RM159,500 for private registration down to RM112,000 for the locally assembled version, a massive drop! The Sportage’s price now makes much more sense, positioned cheaper than it’s rivals like the Honda CR-V. It has also gained commendable crash test results - 5 stars for all seating positions in the U.S. Department of Transportations National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test.
Naza Kia dealers are taking bookings already, so if you’re interested you can head on to the showroom to check it out. The Sportage is not too bad looking, though seems to be inspired from the Swedish as it looks like a smaller Volvo XC90.
Other than Thailand, everyone knows Americans have a healthy appetite for pick-up trucks, which is why anyone who wants to do a pick-up truck must think of whether it can do well in the American market. Because only if it sells in America you can get the economies of scale you need.
Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have no pick-up truck. This is because there was previously a 25% tariff on trucks entering the American market, but now with a new free trade agreement between US and South Korea, Kia is now considering developing a pick-up truck for the Korean market.
Unfortunately for us, whatever Kia makes is not likely to ever reach our shores. Americans love huge oversized trucks, not the 2.5 liter to 3.0 liter turbodiesels that we have running around our country. Kia’s truck offering will most likely be monsters like the Kia KCV4 Mojave concept pick-up truck shown above. It’s a pity, because Theophilus Chin’s photoshop of a Sorento-based pick-up looked quite good.
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Kia Sorento Pickup Truck Photoshop
In Malaysia, we get the Kia Rio5 5-door hatchback as the Kia Rio, offered as a CBU unit from Korea. Powered by a 1.4 liter engine, the proposition that the car offers you seems to be a small get-around designed to be small enough to be easy to park, as well as having a frugal engine that won’t hurt your wallet.
Read my test drive report after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Kia Rio 1.4 Test Drive Report
This is Kia’s new KND-4 Concept SUV which was unveiled today at the Seoul International Motor Show in South Korea. Although just a concept at the moment, this could give us an insight as to how future KIA compact SUVs like the Kia Sportage might look like. It was conceptualised and created at Kia’s Namyang Design Centre.
The Kia KND-4 Concept SUV is done up in Luminous Green, and has a 3-door body. The 3-door SUV bodystyle kind of reminds me of Honda’s old Honda HR-V. It features LED headlights, and flared wheelarches give it a muscular and sporty look. These wheelarches house large 20 inch wheels wrapped with 245/40/R20 low-profile tyres. Further dynamic styling cues include a sweeping C-pillar, a full-width rear screen, and a glasshouse-like cabin profile.
On the interior, you have 4 seats, a norm for coupe-like cars these days. You might call this a coupe-crossover-SUV. Kia has chose IT as the theme for the interior, putting in advanced technology such as AMOLED (Active-Matrix, Organic Light Emitting Diode) displays which are basically an ultra-high contrast, ultra-thin screen, with an ultra-wide viewing angle. There is also Bluetooth connectivity, plus a Blue-ray high-density optical drive, and a built in hard drive for the audio player.
In the engine bay is a 2.2 liter Variable Geometry Turbocharger, driving power to all 4 wheels using Kia’s new Active Torque Transfer (ATT) system system, which works pretty much like any new advanced AWD system, transferring torque to either 4 wheels automatically to suit traction conditions.
More photos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Kia KND-4 Concept SUV
Them Koreans sure have a sense of humour. Kia’s April fool’s prank was the Kia Concept i kit car, or i’KIA, an obvious parody of Swedish furniture company Ikea, which built it’s brand on the whole concept of affordable DIY furnishing.
The Kia Concept i Self-Build, if it actually existed, would allow buyers to choose their own engine, transmission, trim specs, and even body, whether sedan, hatch, stationwagon or even pick-up. Based on choices, the consumer would be supplied modules, and the consumer would assemble the car himself at home.
