Kia
Cycle & Carriage Kia launches facelifted Picanto and Rio
Singapore’s official distributor of Kia cars, Cycle & Carriage Kia has officially unveiled the facelifted versions of the Picanto and Rio. Major change on the outside is the incorporation of the company’s Schreyer grille.
The new Picanto is now offered with 15-inch Black Flower wheels, black bezel headlamps, rear combination lamps, tinted glass, front fog lamps as well as a sports fuel lid. Inside you will find updates including new sports pedals, semi-leather upholstery with yellow piping, leather wrapped steering wheel and gear shift knob, rearseat headrests, driver seat height adjuster, rear seat split folding, front and rear power windows. There is also keyless entry.
The Rio on the other hand is now fitted with a new front bumper, rear diffuser with muffler, body-coloured side moulding, new fog lamps as well as darkened headlamps and tail lamps. Interior features are made up by a new instrument cluster, new steering wheel, new gear stick, chrome pedals, 2-tone designer seats along with auxiliary and USB connectivity.
Pricing wise the Kia Picanto can be yours for S$42,499 while pricing for the Rio starts from S$48,499.
Kia showcases the all-electric Venga concept
Kia is at the Geneva Motor Show right now and the company brought along the Venga EV concept car. It is Kia’s first all-electric plug-in concept car and it features an 80 kW electric motor that can also churn out 280Nm of torque. It allows the Venga to hit the 100 km/h mark in 11.8 seconds and a top speed of 140 km/h, which is pretty low.
The concept can deliver 180 kilometers over a single charge and a quick recharged would take 20 minutes (for 80% of power). Unfortunately the company did not mention anything about the concept making it into production.
Kia to reveal all new Optima / Magentis in New York
Kia has announced that it will launch the all new Optima (also known as the Magentis in certain markets) at the New York Auto Show which starts on April 2nd. According to the company the new Optima is longer, wider and lower compared to the model it replaces.
The press release also mentioned that it has a “significantly longer” wheelbase. The new mid-size sedan will go on sale in the US and in non-European markets by fall this year while sales in Europe will start by spring.
From the design sketches released by Kia we can see that the new Optima has the Schreyer grille, a slopping roof line, wrap around taillights as well as two exhaust tail pipes. Continue reading to view more images. Read the rest of this entry.
Kia reveals the Ray Concept in Chicago
Kia has unwrapped the Ray Concept at the Chicago Auto Show. The concept is a 4-seater plug-in hybrid which is able to offer a fuel economy rating of 1.2 liter per 100 kilometers. Overall the driving range is figured at 1,200 kilometers and it can run for 80.5 kilometers with electric power alone.
The Ray’s hybrid powertrain is made up by a 1.4 liter direct injection engine that pumps out 153hp and a 78kw electric motor. It also has a continuously variable transmission. The concept is build on the Forte platform and features among others, drive-by-wire steering, solar glass, touch-screen controls and Kia’s UVO voice and touch-activated controls. More images can be found after the jump. Read the rest of this entry.
One more sneak peek at the Kia Ray concept
Previously we showed you a design sketch of the Kia Ray concept, which hinted at a low-roof coupe style four-door body with a glass roof and prominent wheel arches. Now, Kia has released a teaser image which partially shows the car’s front end. We can see that it has no grille, long headlamps that stretch into the front fender and very little front overhang. The Ray will debut at the Chicago motor show next week.
So far, we only know that it is a plug-in hybrid concept. Styled at the Kia Design Centre in the US, the Ray is also meant to show off “Kia’s evolving design direction”. We like the fact that Kia is increasingly becoming car company that focuses on design – it has a “celebrity” design boss in Peter Schreyer and the Korean brand’s current family of cars look really good – the Cerato Forte, Sorento and new Sportage (of which pictures were just released) feature bold but clean styling that’s consistent across the range.
Kia Sportage previewed ahead of Geneva!
This is the new Kia Sportage which will make its debut in next month’s Geneva motor show. It looks identical to the leaked patent filing images we showed you last month, down to the rim design. Not much about Kia’s mid-size SUV is officially known for now, except that it is longer, lower and wider than the previous generation model. Kia says that the new Sportage will offer more space for people and cargo, with improved ride quality thanks to a longer wheelbase.
Looking very much like a scaled down Sorento, the Sportage should share underpinnings and powertrains with its Hyundai Tucson cousin. In Singapore, the Tucson comes with the 166 bhp Theta-II 2.0-litre engine mated to an all-new six-speed automatic gearbox.
Two more images after the jump! Read the rest of this entry.
Hyundai and Kia achieves all-time high sales in 2009
As a whole, 2009 was bad year for the car industry, but brands that provide value for money thrived in a world economy still recovering from crisis, among them Hyundai and Kia.
Kia’s 2009 global sales tally reached an all-time high of 1,651,920 units, representing a year-on-year increase of 20.1%, cementing its position as one of the world’s fasting growing marques. The Korean brand posted year-on-year increases in China (256,732 units, up 69.9%), Korea (412,752 units, up 30.4%), North America (346,181 units, up 11.3%), Western Europe (242,288 units, up 7.7%) and general markets (304,522 units, up 16.2%). Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets was the C-segment Cerato Forte with 304,295 units sold.
Sister company Hyundai earlier released its 2009 figures, which breached the three million unit mark for the first time, selling 3,106,762 to better 2008’s sales of 2,783,052, an increase of 11.6%. Combined, Hyundai-Kia sold over 4.75 million units in 2009.
You might wonder where these boosted figures are coming from? Look up! Toyota has just released its 2009 results which saw a 13% drop to 7.81 million, while Detroit giants GM and Ford have been affected by poor domestic demand. The Koreans will be snapping at their heels in no time, as will Europe’s largest carmaker Volkswagen, which aims to unseat Toyota by 2018. As a group, VW chalked up 6.29 million sales in 2009, up 1.1%.
Kia Ray concept teased ahead of 2010 Chicago Motor Show
Kia will be presenting a new plug-in hybrid concept at the upcoming motor show in Chicago which is happening next month. Called the Kia Ray concept it was styled by a team at the Kia Design Centre in the US and according to Kia, the concept will “demonstrate how Kia’s evolving design direction would be applied in the packaging of a plug-in hybrid vehicle.”
From the teaser image you can probably tell that the concept features four-doors and a glass roof as well. Judging from the image, I am confident that the concept is one good looking thing. Kia also revealed in the press release that on road testing of its hybrid vehicles (petrol and diesel variants) will start this year in the UK.
