As a part of “Vision 2010″ plan, to become a major force in automotive world and achiveing 600,000 sales across Eastern and Western Europe, Kia Motors Europe has announced two important appointments to it’s top management team in Europe.

Mr. Paul Willis, who had worked for VW since 2000 and had held postition of a brand Director of Volkswagen Group UK, takes on newly created role of COO-Chief Operating Officier at KME, while Mr Kwang-Ho Nam joins Kia as the new President of Kia Motors Europe… (more…)

Green consumption has become widespread in all facets of our lives. In line with this trend, there is growing interest in environmentally friendly cars. While “environmentally friendly” is a familiar term, “green consumption” is lesser known and may take various forms. We classified green consumption patterns into six categories.

? An “environmental enhancer” tries to consume products that do not generate pollutants under the belief that active efforts should be made to protect and improve the environment. Natural burial, like under trees, is a good example of practicing environmental stewardship until the very end…[read more]

If you were a journalist, reporting for any major European automotive magazine, you would most probably find yourself in a sunny Istanbul right now, exploring beauties of Turkish culture, architecture and Kia’s latest line-up addition, Pro_cee’d hatcback!

The capital of Turkey is the place, chosen by Kia Motors, to officially launch it’s latest three door vehicle, destined for European market. You can watch two videos from Pro_cee’d unveiling after the jump! (more…)

Today, we have some really positive and encouraging news coming from Kia’s headquarters in Seoul. It was announced that the company achieved better than expected operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2007!

Kia managed to swing from last year’s fourth quarter loss of 55 billion won, to 97,7 billion won of operating profits. The turnaround came as a result of won currency falling 9,3 percent against Euro, higher car sales and production cost cutting strategy.

Kia also provided upbeat targets as it works to save costs and raise profitability at overseas operations. It is aiming to post a 3 percent operating profit margin in 2008 versus negative margin last year.

Introduction of five new models is expected to boost Kia’s 2008 sales by 22,5 percent. The company plans to introduce revamped Cerato, also known as Spectra, and a small crossover utility vehicle in September. Facelifted version of Lotze (Optima) will also go on sale in Korea later this year.

Sales of Mohave SUV and facelifted Morning minicar, that went on sale in Korea earlier this month, are already posting stronger than expected sales results! New models are likely to lift Kia’s sales and profits in Korea, a market that carries high margins, and also overseas. (more…)

Find more: 2009 Kia Spectra spy shots

Acording to Wardsauto, Kia Motors America will take the wraps off an all-new concept car at the upcoming New York auto show. In a recent interview at the North American International Show, KMA’s President, Mr Len Hunt said: “You’ll see something (based) off (the) Spectra at New York,”

Mr. Hunt declines to give any further details about Kia’s latest addition, but says the model, along with the upcoming Soul cross/utility vehicle due in the U.S. early next year, will be akin to a youth brand of sorts for the South Korean auto maker.

“We’re kind of pitching (the) Soul and this (new vehicle) I’m not supposed to talk about almost like Scion,” he says of Toyota Motor Corp.’s U.S.-only brand aimed at Generation Y buyers. (more…)

Kia Motors has a new 3.0L V-6 turbo-diesel on display at its booth at North American International Auto Show this year. The engine is labeled as a clean diesel and is adjacent to the just announced Borrego SUV.

Kia began offering the engine in Korean market models in mid-2007 and plans to eventually sell the engine in the US market as well. According to the information on the display, Borrego is the target installation in 2010.

Like the diesel engines from the German automakers, the Kia engine is equipped with particulate filters to clean up the soot. It also features a urea injection system with selective catalyst reduction to reduce the NOx emissions to a level that will allow the engine to meet Tier 2 Bin 5 emissions standards.

According to John Juriga, director of powertrain at the Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center near Ann Arbor, MI, engineers are currently running dynamometer tests on the engine at HATCI. There are also diesel engine prototype vehicles being tested at HATCI.

Juriga says no on-sale date has been determined at this time. Kia is a corporate partner with Hyundai. Hyundai has previously indicated that it plans to develop diesel engines for installation in that brand as well. Hyundai spokesman Miles Johnson indicates the engine on display at Kia is also being tested for use in Hyundai brand vehicles. [Source: Dieselforecast.com]

Kia Motors Corporation announced that cumulatively its global sales (export retail sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants) of passenger cars, recreation vehicles (RVs) and light trucks in 2007 recorded 1,269,164, representing a 3.5% year-on-year increase.

By region, Kia’s North America market posted a year-on-year sales increase of 5.1% in 2007 with 340,293 units sold, while the Europe market posted a 4.3% increase with 343,090 units sold.

Elsewhere, sales of Kia vehicles in China, general markets and Korea in 2007 were 114,601 (11.8% year-on-year decrease), 198,850 (15.2% year-on-year increase) and 272,330 (0.6% year-on-year increase) units, respectively. (more…)

Winning eight national ‘Car of the Year’-style awards, receiving numerous other magazine awards and ranking first in more than 30 comparison road tests to date, the Kia cee’d model range is the ‘most decorated’ Korean-brand car ever in European automotive history, according to Kia Motors Corporation.

Despite facing tough competition in Europe’s most closely-fought vehicle class (C-segment), the Kia cee’d has won thousands of new customers to the Kia brand for the first time. Designed specifically for European consumers and manufactured in Europe, it was voted ‘Family Car of the Year’ in Sweden, ‘Car of the Year’ in Greece, ‘Fleet Car of the Year’ (Compact Class) in Poland and ‘ING Business Class, Lease Car of the Year’ in Belgium. Additional COTY-type awards were won in Romania (2), the Canary Islands and Lithuania.

The five-door cee’d won ‘Best Hatchback’ awards in the UK and Denmark, while Danish motoring media also rated the cee’d sporty wagon so highly that it took the ‘Best Wagon’ crown for 2007 from the leading journal Autobild. In the Netherlands, the cee’d was presented with a ‘2007 Innovation Award’ by the prestigious Autoweek magazine. (more…)

KIA MOTORS AMERICA INTRODUCES ALL-NEW BORREGO SUV!

On the heels of record 2007 sales, Kia Motors America today announced the world debut of the all-new Borrego midsize SUV at the 2008 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, further bolstering its product offerings in the United States.

Inspired by Kia’s “less is more” design philosophy, Borrego was intended to convey a pure and functional look. It joins Kia’s versatile and stylish line of cars and SUVs for those who enjoy active and energetic lifestyles. Set to go on sale this summer as a 2009 model, Borrego houses Kia’s first-ever V8 engine, making it the most powerful Kia vehicle to date.

“Kia is proud to deliver a stylish and amenity-filled SUV to consumers who are passionate about what they drive,” said Len Hunt, president and CEO of KMA. “We strive to make quality vehicles at affordable prices and the Borrego offers distinctive styling, while meeting the needs of families and those who want to infuse life into their driving experience.”

(more…)

The team at Kia Motors America (KMA) has been hustling this past week getting ready for two big “games.” On Thursday, January 10, KMA and the National Basketball Association (NBA) held a news conference in New York to announce that Kia Motors is now the Official Automotive Partner of the NBA. This is the first time KMA has entered into a multi-year marketing partnership with any sports league.

KMA President and CEO Len Hunt was on-hand with NBA Commissioner David Stern to kick off this momentous announcement, which includes Kia being the sole sponsor of the NBA Performance Awards. The Performance Awards include the season MVP, Sixth Man Award, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player Award and the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Player of the Month Awards. KMA will present a brand-new 2009 Kia Borrego to the charity of choice of each of the season Performance Award winners.

Hyundai has taken the first step in a tough challenge to dominate the world’s premium car market. Just a few days before official enveiling at the North American International Auto Show, Hyundai has released first official images and details of it’s rear-wheel-drive Genesis sedan.

Having spent some 500 million $ over the last four years on developing the Genesis, Hyundai considers the sedan a symbol of it’s 40-year history of technological prowess and passion…[Official press release]

Click image to enlarge!

When David Curry learned in 2006 that Kia Motors planned to build cars in West Georgia he left Florida with his wife and young son and returned to LaGrange. He enrolled in automotive manufacturing at West Georgia Technical College while working at a pool company.

On Tuesday Curry, 48, was at the school filling out an online application for a Kia job - one of the first to do so. “It’s been two years now that I’ve been building toward this point,” he said after completing the one-hour process.

Kia, Korea’s second largest carmaker, began accepting applications for more than 2,500 jobs about 11 a.m. Tuesday. Officials with the company and the state yanked down a banner during a ceremony at the college to reveal two words: Now Hiring! (more…)