Archive for Koreans

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:

Related Posts:
Kia Cee’d XR

Following the footsteps of carmakers who have ultra-low budget models for emerging markets - the best example so far is Renault with the Renault/Dacia Logan - Hyundai wants to develop a new ultra-cheap car that will cost less than US$10,000.

On the other end of the pricerange, it is rumoured that Hyundai is developing a premium brand for it to sell it’s more high-end rear-wheel-drive V8 cars that are still under development. Hyundai will use a common rear wheel drive platform (presented as the Hyundai Genesis) for these luxury vehicles, and most will likely carry one of Hyundai’s Tau V8 engines.

It will be interesting to see how cheap Hyundai can go for it’s budget car, considering one of Hyundai’s main sales pitches are is it’s lower price already. It would also be equally interesting to see how the market will accept a premium Korean, as even now despite Lexus proving itself worthy of being an equal to BMW and Mercedes Benz, there are still many critics of Lexus.

Even in our local market, many are surprised that the Hyundai Azera is offered here, because it is sold at a price that no one would dream of paying for a Korean car.

I still remember something a friend of mine said, “I will never buy an LS460, because I know somewhere underneath all of that glam and gadgets is Camry DNA.”

Source

The Hyundai Coupe may finally receive a replacement worthy of being called a sports car. The spyshot above shows the new Hyundai Coupe on tests, however what’s interesting is the new Hyundai Coupe will be based on Hyundai’s new BH platform, which will also underpine the Hyundai Genesis. And like the Genesis, it will be rear wheel drive! Yes, the Hyundai Coupe will finally be able to do doughnuts and swing around the corner in the typical RWD style, shoved along by a Tau-family 300 horsepower 4.6 liter V8 engine.

As a sidenote, have you seen this twin-engined all-wheel-drive Hyundai Coupe? Check out more spyshots including one of a pretty sweet-looking interior that somehow reminds me of the Subaru B9 Tribeca’s interior after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai’s new rear wheel drive V8-powered coupe

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 Hyundai i30 Wagon will be arriving on US shores soon as the Hyundai Elantra wagon, and will be equipped with a sportier suspension setup. The Hyundai i30 Wagon / Hyundai Elantra Wagon will come with a 138 horsepower 2.0 liter inline-4 engine, mated with a 5-speed manual as standard but with the option of a 4-speed auto.

“We want people who are looking for something sporty with good space but don’t want a small SUV. They still want the car look. This car is important in the entry-level segment,” said Wayne Killen, director of product planning for Hyundai Motor America.

Related Posts:
Hyundai i30 CW Station Wagon

As you’ve known, Hyundai has changed it’s naming scheme. Rather than using pretentious un-Korean names like Velacruz and Santa Fe, it has decided to adopt an alphanumeric naming scheme, ala BMW and Mercedes. All Hyundai cars will have an i prefix, a numeric segment identifier, and an alphabetical suffix to denote it’s body type. Hyundai chose i because of it’s association with technology products, as well as the association with the word inspire. As for the numbers:

i10 = A segment
i20 = B segment
i30 = C segment
i40 = D segment
i50 = E segment

If the car is a station wagon, it will receive suffixes like CW, which Hyundai says stands for Cross-Wagon. A Cross-Wagon is of course nothing more than a fancy name for a stationwagon. An example would be the Hyundai i30 CW stationwagon. A Hyundai i40 or i50 is also coming up soon, to be based on the Hyundai Concept Genesis V8 rear wheel driven sedan.

This is Hyundai’s new generation European car, the Hyundai i30. It is also the first in a new model naming scheme which will name models using a numeric series, with the i30 being the C-segment model. It was styled in the Hyundai’s Russelsheim Design and Technical Center in Europe.

Although it looks like it was inspired by a few other designs, like a Honda grille, a Mazda 3 side profile, 1-series rear, and etc the overall combination seems to look pleasing to the eye. On the interior, there is generous use of blue and white as these colours are easy on the eyes. Hyundai has also taken great care to ensure the ergonomics are good, with everything like gear shifters and steering column stalks within natural reach.

Engine options include a 1.4 liter DOHC CVVT engine making 108PS, a very commendable figure for a 1.4 liter engine indeed. The 1.6 liter engine makes 121PS, while the largest petrol engine is a 2.0 liter making 140PS. Turbodiesel options include a 1.6 CRDi with two outputs - a 90PS version and a 115PS version, and the top of the line oil burner is a 2.0 CRDi with a Variable Geometry Turbocharger, putting out 140PS, equal to the petrol version of similiar displacement.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai i30 5-Door Hatch

The second variant of Hyundai’s new i30 series of cars for the European market has been revealed. This is the Hyundai i30 Wagon. It doesn’t look bad at all, though the side profile reminds me a little of the Mazda3 - but what’s wrong with copying a nice design element right, as long as the results are nice!

Hyundai’s i30 series is the twin brother of Kia’s new cee’d series of cars, and the model range will end up mirroring each other with 5-door hatch, 3-door hatch, and stationwagon variants.

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:

• Gasoline 2.0 liter inline-4 DOHC CVVT (Continuously Variable Valve Timing)
• 136hp @ 6,000rpm, 184Nm @ 4,000rpm
• Selectable part-time 4WD with auto locking hubs
• 4-speed Auto with Shiftronic
• 16 inch wheels
• MP3/CD/Tuner 2-DIN Head Unit with USB and AUX Input
• 6-speaker sound system
• Reverse Sensors
• Fuel Computer
• Saturn Black Interior with Metal Grain Trim (Limited Beige Interior with Wood Trim)
• Real Aluminium Trim Assist Grip
• Chrome Inner Door Handles
• Dual SRS Airbags
• Anti-lock Brakes
• Traction Control

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.