Wednesday 29 December 2010

Hat-trick for Kia in the 2011 Total Off Road Awards



Kia's newly-launched Sportage and Sorento have both walked away with wins in Total Off Road magazine's 2011 4x4 of the Year awards. Kia itself also scooped the '4x4 Manufacturer of the Year' award completing the hat-trick .

The Sportage won the category of 'Junior SUV' fending off competition from 18 mainstream and premium models including the Volkswagen Tiguan, Volvo XC60 and the Ford Kuga. The Sorento came away with top prize in the SUV category, ahead of 12 rivals, and overcame strong opposition from luxury brands such as Range Rover and Lexus.

Alan Kidd, Editor, Total Off Road magazine commented: The new Sportage and Sorento are about much more than just that. If money were no object, they'd still be really strong contenders - even the Sorento, in a category where it's up against some absurdly expensive rivals. Fact is, it's way more practical inside than many SUVs costing twice as much. And in the style-conscious junior SUV market, the Sportage's looks blow most of its premium opposition out of the water."Explaining their decision to award Kia a third trophy Kidd added: "The fact that Kia has managed to introduce two such outstanding vehicles in the last 12 months, and do so at incredibly keen prices, makes it our Manufacturer of the Year, too: no contest."
Michael Cole, Managing Director, Kia Motors (UK) Limited said: "We've always been confident about the abilities of Sportage and Sorento and are delighted that these have been recognised by one of the UK's leading off-road magazines. Being chosen as Total Off Road's manufacturer of the year is the icing on the cake."
The full Sportage line-up, including 2WD versions, went on sale in November priced from £16,645 and comes with a choice of two petrol and two turbo-diesel engines. Equipment levels are generous with even the entry-level version coming with features more usually associated with more expensive vehicles such as cruise control, Bluetooth & iPod connectivity and automatic rain-sensing wipers.
Sorento is also available in 2WD and AWD versions and with either five or seven seat layouts. The powerful 2.2 CRDi turbo-diesel engine was recently joined by an efficient 2.0 CRDi engine and a new range-topping '3 Sat-Nav' version - with integrated touch-screen satellite navigation and a premium audio system - was also added to the line-up. The Sorento range is priced from £22,495

Tuesday 27 July 2010



“I want to give Kia global appeal, and I want that appeal to be about design above all else – the new Sportage is a major step towards achieving that goal” says Peter Schreyer, Kia’s Chief Design Officer. Schreyer, who joined Kia in 2006, intends to transform the public perception of Kia right around the world.





“The new Sportage is fresh and bold and could not be mistaken for anything other than a Kia,” says Schreyer. “It embodies Kia’s new-found visual dynamism by successfully taking the key features of an off-road vehicle – the raised ground clearance, the commanding driving position and heightened sense of security – and enveloping them in a sleek and urban-friendly design with global appeal. With its athletic and muscular design the Sportage fits its name perfectly.”
Previously seen exclusively as a mid-sized offroader, the new Sportage has taken a dramatic turn in design direction and has broadened its appeal to a more urban and design-conscious market. Longer, lower and wider than the model it replaces, the new Sportage is immediately identifiable as a Kia by its ‘tiger’ face – incorporating Schreyer’s striking signature grille design – that links all new models from the Korean firm.
New Sportage - Background
Look at the new Sportage and its visual links with the Kue show car – unveiled at the 2007 Detroit Motor Show – are hard to ignore. “It’s crucial that we draw real design inspiration from our concept and showcars, like the Kue, and inject that motivation into our production cars –The new Sportage is clear proof of that,” says Schreyer.
“If you look at the side profile of the new Sportage, you can see a strong resemblance to the Kue, underlined by the show car’s distinctive sheetmetal motif which again is mirrored in the Sportage.” While some manufacturers simply tease the car-buying public with futuristic concepts, the look and feel of Kia’s forward-looking show cars can easily be found in its subsequent production vehicles.
“We started work on the Sportage about three years ago,” says Schreyer. “We worked mainly with the design team here in Frankfurt and with our counterparts in California, so we’re talking about fifty designers in total. We started by analysing what the current Sportage means to the brand, what it means to Kia customers and what our customers expect.”
According to Schreyer, there were two divergent trains of thought – one idea was to pursue a tougher and more off-roadish theme, while the other was to create an agile and urban-friendly style. Either way, the designs had to maintain the advantages of the four-wheel drive – a usefully high ground clearance, an elevated seating position and the feeling of being in command. “I encouraged our designers to go in both directions because there is always the chance that a design element from one could be used on the other,” says Schreyer.
“Then we moved onto sketches and quarter scale models. We then picked maybe three of the most promising ones and created full-sized models. This decision-making process takes three to four months, part of the entire eighteen-month design process. Such a quick process makes Kia very flexible,” explains Schreyer, “because time-wise we are close to market and can react very quickly.”
New Sportage - Exterior Design
“Since starting the project, it was clear for us designers that we wanted to leap ahead and establish a paradigm shift in the way we look at Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), while at the same time strengthening the new Kia design language in the interior” explains Massimo Frascella, Head of the Exterior Design Team on the new Sportage. Frascella continues: “If you look at current compact SUVs, you‘ll discover that in the past the main focus was merely on the ‘utility’ side: the cars were practical, but often aren’t show-stoppers to look at. A contradiction to how they are often used, with most SUVs driven in urban environments, where style and a bit of ‘show-off’ play an increasingly important role.”
Sitting below the central bonnet-mounted badge, the trademark ‘tiger’ face sweeps out to effectively frame the grille before broadening out and encompassing the car’s large and piercing headlamps to create a distinctive and powerful visage. The strength of this countenance is reinforced by the clamshell bonnet and its contours that run into raised shoulders as they flow down to meet the headlamps. “The clamshell bonnet gives a sense of strength and solidity to the front end,” says Schreyer. “Together with the grille, these shoulders create a strong three-dimensional feel to the face of the new Sportage, and they also help the driver accurately place the car on the road.”
The new Sportage’s athleticism is reinforced by its rakish windscreen angle, which sweeps seamlessly into the low roofline. And the top of the screen itself reflects the grille profile. “The profile line of the top of the windscreen mirrors that of the grille,” explains Gregory Guillaume, Chief Designer, Kia Europe.
“We first featured this castellated element on the Kee concept car, at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. This is followed through to the rear, which has the same distinctive outline at the base of the rear windscreen. These two features instantly heighten the Sportage’s on-the-road visibility – as do its sculpted flanks, which, flanked by boldly flared wheelarches, feature a striking concave motif in the door panels.”
The key design element of new Sportage’s purposeful stance is the relationship between its high shoulders and narrow glasshouse, explains Schreyer. “We’ve created a car with a sportscar-like ratio between sheetmetal and glass. The side-windows are very narrow which gives you an almost rally-car feeling.” Follow the shoulder and roof lines and they meet at the striking reverse-angled C-pillar. “The size, the shape and the proportion of the C-pillar on any car is absolutely crucial to its appearance,” says Schreyer. “And as you can see on our new Sportage, it determines the entire look and feel of the car.”
Using a tape-measure against the new Sportage confirms it is slightly lower than the previous generation, but the design of the new Sportage makes it look significantly lower, and both sleeker and more assertive. The surfacing is modern and clean and the side profile is defined by a spearing shoulder running the whole length of the car, visually connecting headlamps and tail lamps. The simplicity of this line, together with the lower body sculpting, conveys a sense of precision and dynamism.
Large-diameter wheels, muscular wheel arches and a prominent shoulder line provide a powerful stance while the darker cladding brings a touch of ruggedness to the whole vehicle.
New Sportage - Interior Design
The new Sportage’s cabin had to reflect the dynamism and sporting nature of the exterior. But how do you inject real ‘sportiness’ into a compact SUV with a high seating position? Ralph Kluge, Head of Interior Design on the new Sportage project explains: “The driver needed to feel connected and cocooned by sitting “in” rather than “on” the vehicle as they would in a sports vehicle. As new Sportage is rather compact, a balance was required so that this didn’t feel claustrophobic – we achieved by two significant changes in the architecture of the Sportage’s interior. Firstly, the horizontal layout of the instrument panel (IP) creates a feeling of space by visually stretching the car’s width. Secondly, the high centre console, that in conjunction with rising feature lines on the doors makes you feel like you are sitting inside of a sporty coupĂ© rather than in an SUV. The Sportage’s exterior, with its high shoulder line and compact glass areas further support this.”
The main feature of the IP is the ‘wing’ that seamlessly integrates the radio, air-vents and instrument cluster into one clean, sweeping form. This ‘wing’ sits in a deep cut-out that reinforces the impression of solidity, and, at the same, time integrates a second level of controls for the heating & ventilation control unit below and a second screen above. This two-tier design stretches across the width of the interior, going against the convention of upright, blocky SUV interiors, and creating, instead, a much more harmonious atmosphere. The muscular IP section together with the high level console further enhances the feeling of being in a solid, secure interior.
“The exterior design is very sporty for a car of this type and, although you sit high in the cabin, there’s still something undeniably sporting about it because the windscreen has a very fast angle and the shoulderline is high,” says Guillaume. “This gives you a sort of cocooned and safe feeling, and yet from a practical point of view there is still plenty of rear headroom.” In the generously proportioned rear cabin, the boldly angled C-pillar cuts back on itself well behind the rear passengers, to enhance the car’s low-slung profile without encroaching on their view out.”
Kia Design – Beyond the new Sportage
Kia’s design language is based around architecture. “It’s the way the greenhouse sits on the body, the proportion, the graphic when viewed from the side, the wheel arch size, the face, the stance, the overhangs, and the down-the-road look and feel of the car. Everything should work together.” explains Schreyer. “When it comes to encapsulating Kia design I always refer back to the simplicity of the straight line. It means that we are trying to keep our design simple… and, in design, simple is the hardest thing to create.”
The arrival of the new Sportage marks another design milestone for Schreyer and Kia’s design teams – another step closer to his goal. “I think the new Sportage is fresh and bold and couldn’t be mistaken for anything but a Kia.” says Schreyer. “In the past to buy a Kia was to make a very rational decision. I want to create the situation where people see a Kia and want one firstly because of the way it looks, and then they discover that in addition to its great design it’s also attractively priced and has a great warranty. I want to give Kia global appeal, and I want that appeal to be about design above all else.”

Thursday 17 June 2010

NEW KIA SOUL 2011 MODELS

MY11 Soul Launch Announcement

We are delighted to announce the launch of MY11 Soul models, available with immediate effect for ordering purposes. Deliveries are expected to begin during July 2010.

As with most Model Year introductions, there are various changes made to the model range. These are detailed grade-by-grade below.

All models

• The design of the exterior door handles changes from the previous flip-up type to a more stylish and premium pull-type handle. Soul 1 continues to feature black door handles; Soul 2 and Soul Shaker feature body coloured handles; whilst Tempest and Burner feature chrome coloured handles.

• Electric window switchgear panels featured on interior door panel armrests gain illumination to enhance usability when driving at night.

• A trip computer is added as standard to the instrument cluster, showing features such as distance to empty, average fuel consumption, journey time elapsed, ambient temperature.

• All MY11 models will feature the standard fitment of a luggage area parcel shelf. This includes the Soul 1 grade, which previous to MY11 did not feature this item of equipment. This enables luggage and shopping to be safely stored out of sight. It can be removed as and when required for larger loads.




Soul 2

Bluetooth is added as a standard feature to all ‘2’ grades upwards (including all ‘Original’ models). Bluetooth functionality allows a mobile phone to wirelessly connect to the audio system, enabling the driver to safely receive hands-free calls whilst driving. Functionality is provided via buttons mounted on the steering wheel. MP3 music files can also be played from the phone via the vehicle audio system, similar to the CD Audio with MP3 functionality.





New Soul Shaker

As you are aware, it is KMUK’s strategy to implement a rotation process on the high-end ‘Originals’ collection of Soul, in order to keep the models fresh and modern, whilst also showcasing individual character models which suit different customer lifestyles. The first rotation was implemented in Q4 2009 and saw the Tempest model launch in place of the Samba.

MY11 will now see a change made to the Soul ‘Shaker’ range. As one of the most popular Original models, Shaker will continue as part of the MY11 range but will gain a significant design restyle to update the model. For MY11 Shaker gains unique body coloured bumpers in place of the usual front and rear black bumper inserts. This feature adds to the elegant and refined style of this sophisticated model, whilst also significantly altering the appearance of the vehicle.

In conjunction with this new appearance, Shaker is the first Original model to also diversify into a secondary paint colour. Joining the solid Vanilla Shake colour; a stylish new metallic brown paintwork is added - Chocolate Shake. Customers can now choose to have the Shaker in either the solid paint Vanilla colour or in the metallic Chocolate for an additional £395 inclusive of VAT.


The stylish Houndstooth trim remains as the interior for both exterior colours, and both derivatives gain Bluetooth functionality; whilst existing standard features currently found on the Vanilla model are also be found on the Chocolate version, such as an advanced reversing camera system, cream dash interior, USB/AUX ports with iPod cable and an electric sunroof.

The Advanced reversing camera system featured on the Shaker and also its stable-mate Tempest, also gains a design change for MY11 models. Screen resolution is enhanced and distortion is reduced, whilst parking guidelines appear on screen in order to assist the driver in easier, more effective parking.




Soul Burner

The top of the range ‘Burner’ remains as the flagship model in the ‘Originals’ collection but gains some minor additional specification changes.

MY11 sees the introduction of a telescopic (reach) steering wheel adjustment paired to the existing tilt-adjust function. This enables the steering wheel angle and height to be optimally adjusted according to the driver’s height and comfort preference.


Also added to the MY11 Burner models is an update to the mood-reflecting speaker lights which can be set to pulsate in time to music played on the audio system. On previous MY10 models the type of lights used on the front speakers were a clear LED-style speaker surround. For MY11 however, additional colours will be applied, meaning that the lights can pulsate with red, green or blue lighting.

Thursday 18 February 2010

All New Sportage




The all-new Kia Sportage will show a dramatic shift in design direction when it makes its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show on 2 March, 2010.

Embodying Kia’s new visual dynamism, all-new Sportage is a fresh, bold, athletic and sporty design that blends the key features of an SUV – the commanding driving position, heightened sense of security and raised ground clearance – in a sleek and urban-friendly design.

Longer, lower and wider than the previous generation model, all-new Sportage will offer more space for people and cargo, with improved ride quality thanks to a longer wheelbase.

Michael Cole, Managing Director of Kia Motors (UK) Ltd., said: “Sportage was the car that really made the breakthrough for Kia in Europe and the all-new version will make people sit up and take notice just as the original did. I am convinced it will begin a remarkable new chapter in the Kia story.”

The all-new Sportage comes to the UK later this year, with a range of highly competitive diesel and petrol engines.

The world premiere of the all-new Sportage will take place at 08.45 on 2 March, 2010 on the Kia Stand (No 6441) in Hall 6 at the Geneva International Motor Show.

Tuesday 2 February 2010



KIA has come up with a king-sized supermini good enough to rival the top-selling Ford Fiesta.
Built in Europe and guaranteed for seven years, the new Venga demonstrates Kia is now up with the best.
The Venga has as much room inside as a compact people mover while being little larger than a basic hatchback.
Venga means 'arrived' in Spanish and that is exactly what has happened to the Korean car maker.
The Venga is on sale from February 1 - the same time as Kia launches an all-new version of its flagship SUV, the Sorento.
The new model is not only capable of taking on the Fiesta but will also have the likes of the Citroen C3 and Honda Civic in its sights.
Priced from £11,495 to £15,395 the Venga shows that Kia is no longer in the bargain basement but nevertheless it is still serious value for money.
From tip to toe the Venga is a smart car - the first model to be styled from scratch since Kia's design guru Peter Schreyer was headhunted from Audi.
The clever touch has been creating a spacious five seat cabin in a body which is just over 12 feet long.
Sliding rear seats mean a six footer can sit in the back with plenty of room while the luggage space varies from saloon car proportions of 444 litres to a very useful 1,253.
There is even an underfloor storage area to keep belongings out of sight.
The rear seats can fold flat and split on a 60/40 basis delivering added flexibility while there is plenty of usable space inside.
Sharing some of its instrumentation with Kia's trendy Soul, the dash is uncluttered but still a touch on the plasticky side.
Air conditioning is standard across the three model range and so is electronic stability, traction control and a device to help moving off on slopes.
That is quite a lot of kit for a small car and should help it follow the Soul by gaining top Euro NCAP safety ratings.
The Venga also marks the introduction of a new lean burn diesel engine from Kia.
Like the car, the 1.4-litre engine is built at the Kia factory in Slovakia and comes with a stop/start system pushing fuel economy to 62.8mpg on average. Emissions of 117g/lm mean £35 a year road tax for private motorists.
The little diesel has been designed and engineered in Germany where Kia has a technical facility and will become an important part of the car maker's armoury.
Developing 89bhp - the same as the 1.4-litre petrol engine also available in the Venga - it has a 0 to 60mph time of 14 seconds and a claimed top speed of 104mph.
That's not earth shattering but it is very eco-friendly and has enough acceleration to cope.
A 1.6-litre petrol automatic is available in mid-range trim only and priced from £14,095 while the entry level 1.4-litre petrol Venga will return an average of 45 to the gallon with CO2 figures of 147g/km.
The petrol version is slightly quicker and less noisy but both versions handle better than any little Kia has done before.
The Venga shares its underpinnings with the larger Soul but its suspension is much more suited to British roads.
The car feels very confident and well put together - as good as anything more established European car brands can produce.
Kia's heavy investment in its European operations is now paying dividends and the cars from Slovakia - the cee'd, Sportage and now the Venga - are genuinely competent.
They have to be. For any manufacturer to offer a seven year warranty on all its cars is a bold step and one which is certain to impress

Monday 11 January 2010

7 YEAR WARRANTY ON ALL NEW KIA'S






Kia is celebrating a remarkable 2009 sales performance and the start of the New Year by offering an industry-leading seven-year warranty on every new Kia vehicle sold in the UK
This follows the success of the company's unique '7-Year Kia Warranty', which was first introduced on the European-made Kia Ceed in 2006, Kia will now offer a similar seven-year/100,000 mile warranty on all models in Europe, from the small Picanto to the range-topping Kia Sorento.
The new '7-Year Kia Warranty' will apply to all vehicles sold and registered from January 1, 2010.
The comprehensive new warranty is a 'bumper-to-bumper' manufacturer's warranty and covers each vehicle for up to seven years (whole car) plus a seven-to-12 years anti-perforation corrosion warranty (model-dependent).
A major benefit of the warranty, in addition to peace-of-mind' motoring for the buyer, will be its transferability to subsequent owners. Certain qualifications will apply, and the normal 'wear and tear' on such items as tyres, brake pads and clutch linings is excluded from cover.
Kia is the only manufacturer in Europe who will stand over their product for an unbeatable 7 years