New Kia
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Yes, another new Kia.
Just a production version of the concept they showed us a few weeks ago in Europe…
At least it doesn’t look like a Hyundai.
Seems like it is a bit longer than the Golf/Rabbit.
We’ll see if we get this one over here. It looks like it might work well in Europe though…
What a gorgeous car!
It would be a real shame if we didn’t get this one stateside. But who knows what Kia has got planned for the most important market in the world.
I think Europe is a larger market than the US.
Manufacturers like Renault and Peugeot are among the largest in the world without selling a single car in the US.
(Except if you count Nissan)
what is that red car in the reflection in the number 3 interior pic ?
Kind of a more linear Mazda3… interesting hood sculpting tho.
Wow, this is a Kia that I could actually see myself driving…that’s a bit scary. The Optima has a nice interior, but the exterior is pretty generic, and the exclusion of the 3.3l V6 in favor of the 2.7l rules it out.
Of course, the powertrain choices and handling characteristics would be the deciding factor, but the exterior is nice and the interior seems to be well laid out and of decent quality from what I can tell from the photo.
Honda and Toyota really need to take notice, Hyundai and Kia are advancing towards them with surprising alacrity.
wow. it looks like the now-defunct lexus is300 hatchback. good copy!
Very nice and elegant. Here we have the VW Rabbit. Let’s call this one the Kia “Bunny”, hee hee, since they both look pretty similar.
not bad looking, but, this reminds me of 5- 10 years ago(or even mor erecently, until 3+ per gallon “killed” off some of the sale of these)SUV’s. Every maker had to had 12 for every 1 “real” car they sold.
Now it’s going like this with these crossover things.
Some crossovers, like the HHR and PT(heard PT will be dumped for maybe that Hornet, due to Chrysler thins “retor” is going out of style, and so is “cute”? PT “cute”? Seems a lot of guy drive em)are better than plain of “looks like my momma’s station wagon, but modified”.
The Suzuki Reno, same function, dut does not look like another one of these things.
Whatever happend to Originality( liek the old Tib, hate it or like it, especially the 01 models… people had a comment, looked ’em. My personal real life ordeals? All praise. even the mechanic was like’this is a nice car”).
C’Mon…quit tryin to imitate, be original. Sure it’s nice looking, but, so is the Mazda3, and a ton of others.
When ws the last time a car company was “original”, a few years back, with the Prius, perhaps?
Kia is targeted for Europe. They sell more there than in the US, so their products follow accordingly. Hopefully if we dont’ see this car here, we’ll at least see its styling.
Nissan isn’t a wholey owned subsidiary of Renault.
I do beleive that North America is the largest, or atleast most “lucrative” car market in the world, with China quickly become the new #1 by the end of the decade.
This looks a lot better than even the “concept” car. I very much like this, its clean looking, and a sharp hatchback that I’d love to get into. Hopefully, they’re also be a “hot” version, too with ~200hp.
Anon- I think the red car in the reflection is the Hyundai Santro, ive seen them in India, and I think they have them in South America as well.
the red car is a kia picanto
If you were to change the badge to Toyota, most people would mistake it for a Toyota, it shows how good Hyundai/Kia are getting in copying other successful brands.
If I want the best car then I would buy a Honda or a Toyota, however, if I do not have to buy the BEST then I rather go with some good American brands. Ford and GM may have not been so successful in recent history but they have made remarkable contributions to not just America but the whole Automobile world.
If you were to change the badge to Toyota, most people would mistake it for a Toyota, it shows how good Hyundai/Kia are getting in copying other successful brands.
If I want the best car then I would buy a Honda or a Toyota, however, if I do not have to buy the BEST then I rather go with some good American brands. Ford and GM may have not been so successful in recent history but they have made remarkable contributions to not just America but the whole Automobile world.
If you were to change the badge to Toyota, most people would mistake it for a Toyota, it shows how good Hyundai/Kia are getting in copying other successful brands.
If I want the best car then I would buy a Honda or a Toyota, however, if I do not have to buy the BEST then I rather go with some good American brands. Ford and GM may have not been so successful in recent history but they have made remarkable contributions to not just America but the whole Automobile world.
Nice knockoff Mazda 3. Actually, it’s not that nice.
And the Hyundai/Kia onslaught continues.
H/K exec: “All your designs are belong to us.” LOL…
“I think Europe is a larger market than the US.”
But the US is the most competitive and profitable car market in the world.
just a thought from an economist…
more competition generally means lower profits
BLACKLASER IT SMELL LIKE A COPY OF THE NEXT COROLLA…….
Is this the Kia Rondo? If so I recently saw a Rondo in the parking lot of a Best Buy in Allentown, PA. The car had California plates, so it was def straight from the manufacturer’s office.
Here’s a desgin they should steal(they could make it larger, from the under 156 inch total length version)Hornet!
The Dodge Hornet… They could steal it, make it about Accent sedan sized,give it 140HP, and just change (very few) details.
Maybe make the front end round, use this front end, and steal the rest.
Tought luck for Chrysler, and it would sell.
The US market is slightly larger in volume and profit than all of Europe combined. When you consider NAFTA countries the market is even larger.
China is not going to be anywhere close to the US in the foreseeable future. It is #1 only in terms of growth rate. My five-year-old is growing a lot faster than me, but it will be a long time before he kicks my butt.
Looks farily nice for a cheap car. Put it up agains the fugly Dodge Caliber and it really starts to look good with better quality materials. Poor american automakers, first japan and now korea. At least the new camaro and challenger look good.
Us car market is behind europe too due to our european emission taxes. European manufacturers launch their models in USA usually a year or two after europe for example VW golf/rabbit current model in europe was launch in 2002/3 USA just getting it now.
Also our cars are more economical on fuel as we (uk) signed the geneva convention and have emission laws to follow to keep car emissions low and fuel consumption low. This along with factories being close at hand mean there is a big demand for new models. Also the car market in the UK is very stagnent which is why car companies remake or replace models so quickly now to force sales. For example for focus luanched in 1997 new model launch as quickly as 2003/4. Past escort models werent replaced until a lot older,……
links on this thread at Edmunds, about a sporty car(08?) for Kia, looks like a 3 door mustang(200HP/V6?)…. one link has some graphics of this car Vince has up, and then the Mustang knock-off.Mayeb Europe will get this, adn we will get the sporty car(for Kia, like Hyundai has Tiburon)?Detnews, and many other sites, ahve said in the recent past that Hyundai/Mistu/Chrysler share this (and Kia) platform(lancer?)….I dunno. Probably so…. https://www.autoblog.com/site-map/?sid=3, hope ya don’t mind the autoblog link….)take care/not offense.