Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced record November sales of 24,177 units, an 8.9-percent increase over the same period last year. Leading the way for the brand were Optima, Spectra and Sportage, three popular models in the Kia lineup.

KMA remains on pace for another annual sales record with year-to-date sales of 281,405 units, a 6.5-percent increase over the same period last year.”As we close out November with the ninth month of record sales this year, Kia is well on its way to its 14th consecutive year of record sales,” said Len Hunt, president and CEO of Kia Motors America.

Spectra sold 5,342 units, a 28.8-percent increase over the same period last year. Optima and Sportage sold 3,561 and 3,800 units respectively, both increases over the same period last year. November became the ninth month to produce record sales for Kia this year.

South Korea’s second-largest carmaker, Kia Motors Corp, said on Monday that sales in November increased 4 percent from a year ago as higher exports offset sluggish domestic sales.

Kia sold 137,813 vehicles last month, down 2.1 percent from October. Exports rose 5.7 percent from a year ago to 112,611 units, thanks to strong sales in Europe from its Slovakia plant.

Domestic sales declined 3.1 percent to 25,202 units. But sales of its recreational vehicles rose sharply, allowing Kia to reclaim leadership of this market from affiliate Hyundai Motor with 41.3 percent share.

“High oil prices sparked strong demand for our Carens recreational vehicle model which uses liquefied petroleum gas,” the company said in a statement. For the 11 months to November, Kia’s sales were up 9 percent to 1.24 million units.

Hi there!

This is a big and very important day for KIA-WORLD blog! I’m proud and very excited to present you the new, upgraded KIA-WORLD!

More than six months hava passed since the very first post was published at the KIA-WORLD blog. Since then, more than 250 official or unofficial informations about Kia Motors found the place on this board, which means the blog is very active and at least one informative post about Kia Motors is published here every day.

The majority of you most probably don’t know that this is already the third version of KIA-WORLD blog. The first edition was founded in May 2007 and was known as Kiaworld. That was also the first insight into a very popular blogging sphere to me.

The second edition was up until today and was very well recognized by Kia enthusiasts and fans. The site became very lively, when Boris, Greg, Diego, Jamyal, Bryan, Patrick, Rattdady, Colby (really enthusiastic Kia fans) and other visitors joined and began actively posting their views and oppinions up here.

And this…this is by far the best, the most comprehensive and very beautiful, third edition of KIA-WORLD. Three months of development are now behind us and here is the result of hard and dedicated work. I hope you like it!

I would like to once again thank our visitors for their interest and support, and hope that you can gain useful information at our KIA-WORLD website.

Follow the link to read more about KIA-WORLD.

What do you think of this car? While surfing on the web, I found those spy shots. I wasn’t sure of what car would this be until I saw the alloy wheel with Kia emblem. Now the question, what Kia is this? I was thinking of Spectra replacement.

The Spectra has been on the market for about 5 years now and it desperately needs a replacement to compete with the endless automotive competition. Europeans got their hands on the cee’d, could this vehicle be destined for US and other non European countries only? We shall see… [Source: Jonganilbo]

But first take a look at the spy shots:

Click image to enlarge!

Hyundai-Kia Motor Group said yesterday it has taken emergency measures to reform its China unit amid rapidly declining sales.

The top Korean auto group said it established separate Chinese headquarters for Hyundai and Kia, allocating veteran executives for each unit. Kim Dong-jin, current vice chairman of Hyundai Motor, will be heading Beijing Hyundai.

Kim Ik-hwan, present vice chairman of Kia Motors, will be seated as head of Kia’s business unit in China, also known as Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motors. Seol Young-heung, the chairman currently in charge of Hyundai-Kia’s Chinese operation, will supervise production and sales for both units. (more…)

Kia Cee’d was selected Thursday as “Car of the Year 2008” in Romania, in a competition organised by the Romanian Union of Auto Journalists and Publishers (UZEAR), Rompres reports.

Finalists of the 2008 “Car of the Year” competition were Fiat 500, Fiat Bravo, Ford Mondeo, Hyundai i30, Kia Cee’d, Mazda2, Nissan Qashqai and Peugeot 308.

The eight finalists were selected in mid-November, when the first stage of the competition concluded. A jury made up of journalists cast online votes for their favourite models out of a total 31 eligible automobiles, selected by UZEAR out of the new models to be launched this year or next year in the domestic market.

Just like in the European Car of the Year competition, each member of the 18-journalist jury had 25 points to distribute to max five models, with the maximum score not to exceed 10 points for one model.

In 2007, the Car of the Year in Romania was the Opel Corsa.

The engine range of Cee’d is pretty standard fare – 1.6 litre and 2.0 litre four cylinder petrol versions plus, er, 1.6 litre and 2.0 litre turbodiesels. The 1.6 litre petrol is predicted to be the best seller, and it’s not at all bad. Yes, it gets a bit vocal when pressed, and it’s still a bit loud under motorway cruising. But in town it’s smooth and refined with plenty of mid-range torque.

The Cee’d specs are : engine – 1591cc 16 valve four-cylinder petrol, power-120 bhp at 6200rpm, torque- 113 lb/ft at 5200rpm, Performance- 0-62 mph 10.8 seconds, 119 mph top speed, Fuel economy – 44.1mpg combined, CO2 emissions – 152 g/km.

Kia Motors Corp. expects to sell 100,000 Mohave sport-utility vehicles worldwide next year as it is set to begin selling the new model.

The automaker plans to sell 18,000 units of the Mohave in South Korea next year and exports are likely to total 82,000 units, said Lee Kwang-woo, head of Kia’s domestic operations, in a press conference to introduce a revamped version of one of its buses.

“I’m confident that Mohave would win sales in competition with Hyundai Motor’s Veracruz,” Lee said, referring Hyundai’s latest SUV model.

Kia, an affiliate of Hyundai, plans to start selling the Mohave SUV early next year. The new SUV will be sold overseas with the different name of “Borrego.”

For the whole of this year, Kia aims to sell 1.54 million vehicles worldwide, up 22 per cent from 2006.

[Source: Yonhapnews]

While reading this article, I noticed some pretty impressive specifications and technical informations about Kia Borrego, including the claim of V8 engine producing 333hp!! Don’t know if this is true, but looks like Borrego just joined the club of 300+ horsepower cars.

The article:

Visiting any automotive research and development facility is worth the time and effort — the off chance of catching a glimpse of something special makes even the most arduous trip worthwhile.

A day at Hyundai Kia Automotive Group’s Namyang facility in Korea provided quite an insight. Along with a number of heavily camouflaged cars (notably the next-generation Tiburon sports coupe complete with what sounded like a V8 engine — sadly, the eight was emphatically denied by Hyundai personnel) were two very different cars up for driving — a Chevy TrailBlazer-sized, seven-seat SUV and a subcompact hybrid. (more…)

Read the first Kia Soul test drive here.

Click image to enlarge!

Kia Soul test drive

Kia Lotze, known also as Kia Optima overseas, has received a mid-cycle technical makeover. Improvements implemented in a midsized sedan will strengthen it’s position on the market and intensify ability to compete against established contenders in the mid-size class.

The new Lotze has been equipped with new Theta II engine developed by Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group. This is the same engine used in Sonata Transform, a facelifted version of Hyundai Sonata that went on sale in South Korea last month.

This is the first Kia adopting Theta II engine which delivers more horsepower and sportier performance but not at the expence of fuel economy! Indeed, the revised engines boast improved milage and lower emissions.

The performance improvements have been realized through the addition of a variable induction system to improve engine breathing and a variable valve timing system for both the exhaust and intake ports.

More about 2009 Kia Optima (click here) 

Bill Caven charts the Korean marque’s spectacular growth – and says there’s a lot more to come…

When you think about it, life is full of little surprises. For example, how did the Spanish equivalent of Stevie Wonder become an international football referee?

Similarly, if you had dared to suggest a few years ago that a Korean motor manufacturer would become a major world player, then the chances are you would have been laughed out of town. (more…)

Kia Motors Corp. has finally launched it’s much anticipated large SUV! Head to our more extensive report about Kia Mohave by clicking the following link: Kia Mohave or read the Mohave review from Dubai.

Click image to enlarge!

By Donna Vissing

The 2007 KIA Spectra SX is a great drive, great mileage at a great price! Considered to be one of the fastest growing automobile manufacturers in the world, the Korean-built KIA is increasing their consumer fan base.

The Spectra SX is a sporty, sleek, fun car to drive; when you add the car’s dependability, functionality and comfortable interior for the driver and passengers, you have made a sound decision that you will enjoy for years to come! Read more…

The production version of Kia Motors Corp.’s full-sized sports utility vehicle Mohave was shown to the press for the first time yesterday. The vehicle was introduced during a test-drive session at the automaker’s plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. It is scheduled for launch on the local market in January 2008.

Mohave, short for “majesty of hi-tech active vehicle,” is Kia’s first full-sized SUV, and is the first one which embodies chief design officer Peter Schreyer’s “simplicity of the straight line” principle. (more…)