Kia Motors announced it has sold 128.272 new vehicles in April 2009 with sales surging in China, South Korea and eight European countries. In the first four months of the fiscal year, Kia Motors sold 399.200 cars globally, slightly down from a year ago.

Despite a slight sales decrease in the first four months, Kia Motors’ spokesman recently revealed the company is confident it can sell as many new vehicles in 2009 as it did last year. According to the statement Kia aims to sell 1.4 million units globally – that’s the sales number achieved in 2008. To achieve these numbers again, Kia will focus on smaller and more fuel efficient cars, such as Soul crossover, Forte, Rio, cee’d and Picanto whose demand has been on rise lately.

Kia sales by region

Kia Motors saw it’s biggest sales increase in China with sales increasing 40 percent to 18.169 units. The company has also posted growth in South Korean market and General markets with sales of 29.010 and 23.902 units respectively. Sales in the Middle East and Africa remained particularly strong in April 2009 with 15.462 units sold.

Thanks to impressive sales of cee’d hatchback and Soul crossover, Kia’s sales soared significantly in eight European countries. Countries seeing major improvements in April 2009 include Germany (+ 42 percent), Slovakia (+ 91 percent), Sweden (+ 18 percent), Austria (+ 51 percent), Poland and Czech Republic (+ 32 percent), France (+ 14 percent) and Portugal with 5 percent increase. Total sales in April were 20.500 units, raising Kia’s market share in the region once again.

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I’m pleased to announce a series of KIA-WORLD blog give-away contests that will be run over the next few weeks! It was a while ago when I sent an e-mail to people at Kia Motors Europe (KME) and asked them if they would be interested to support some of the contests I had been planning to do.

Thanks to the positive response from KME, I collected some great and very exclusive prizes that will soon be given to lucky contestants for free! So, what are the prizes? A collection of prizes includes three exclusive 4GB Kia Soul MP3 players, two quality vests with Soul patterns and three Kia Motors T-shirts!

To enter the first-ever KIA-WORLD blog contest, you have to answer all 7 questions posted below! The deadline for entries is Thursday, May 21st 2009. The contest is open to anyone, anywhere in the world! The winner will be announced on the same day as contest deadline expires.  

IMPORTANT: Write your answers in an e-mail and send them to info@kia-world.net ! Tip: You can find all the answers here at our Kia blog! To help each other finding the correct answers you can also open a new discussion thread in our Kia Forums.

Good luck and have fun!

1. Name Kia Motor’s Chief Design Officer!

2. Name all three Kia Soul concepts that were displayed at the 2008 Geneva auto show! 

3. How many Kia Souls were sold in the US market in April 2009?

4. Name the country where Kia cee’d is being manufactured!

5. What is the name of the Soul based “pick up” concept car?

6. When was the first generation (!) Kia Sorento launched?

7. What animal was used in the latest Soul commercial?

This week’s prize: Kia Soul MP3 player 

Special thanks to Ilona Tzudnowski and our contest sponsor Kia Motors Europe!

Sales of the 2010 Kia Forte to commence in South Korean market within a month

Several different Korean car magazines reported yesterday that Kia Motors will put the 2010 Forte Koup on sale in June 11th. As far as we know the afore-mentioned release date relates only to Korean market where the Koup will be on sale first. 

It is still not clear when exactly the sporty two-door model will go on sale in the US and Canada, but some sources state that North Americans should get the Forte Koup by the end of summer. What we have also learned today is the fact that Kia will also put the Forte Koup on sale in global markets such as Middle East, Asia and Australia. However, the Koup won’t be available in Europe as Kia doesn’t want to compete head to head against it’s other hot looking (& very successful) hatch, the three-door pro_cee’d.

As we have been told by a Scudracer (our dear friend who wrote an exclusive Kia Forte Koup review for us), the Koup will deviate greatly from it’s four-door sibling model. Apart from powertrain elements and interior lay-out, the exterior will be completely different with the only exterior body part being shared with Forte sedan is the hood! Everything else is uniquely Koup!

If you’re interested in the Forte Koup, then you can read the very first and exclusive Kia Forte Koup review here.

UK: Kia Soul Burner Edition video review 

It’s widely known that Soul crossover has so far been a great success for Kia. If you take a look at Soul’s initial global sales numbers you can find out that those are very encouraging and on increase month by month. 

Kia thought it would sell about 40.500 Souls in the US and Canadian markets in the first year on sale. But since the youth-oriented Kia car is being snapped up so fast Kia’s executives began studying whether they may need 10.000 or more Souls to satisfy consumer needs.  

Although the North America has been considered as the main market for the multi-award-winning Kia crossover, the Soul has also seen a strong demand in Europe. As a matter of fact, initial European sales are exceeding Kia‘s expectations by about 13 percent! Since Soul’s sales commenced earlier this year, Kia dealers managed to sell over 6.500 units in Europe alone.

The Soul has been particularly successful in the UK where it was also titled as “Best New Model” for 2009 - by Fast Car magazine. Speaking of sales numbers, more than 500 Souls have been sold so far, but what’s even more interesting is the fact that all of the Soul Shakers have been sold out even before they hit the UK dealers and the dealers are now waiting the new shipments to arrive.

In the UK, Kia Soul is available in three different trim levels: Samba, Shaker and Burner. The most attractive of  all three UK Souls is definitely the high-end Soul Burner model which looks almost exactly like a Soul Burner concept that we have seen at Geneva auto show last year. The Soul Burner comes available with accessories such as 18-inch alloy wheels, red grille, silver dragon decals, lightning door speakers and others. It also features a Lotus tuned suspension! 

There’s a great video review of Kia’s “mad machine” (yes, that’s how the reviewers called the Soul Burner) that I just found on Youtube and you can watch it here:

2010 Kia Forte Koup review; first impressions from Forte Koup test-drive. Infromation on Forte Koup engines, specs, tires, wheels, engines, warranty, parts and accessories.

Kia has always sold based on value-for-money, which, if boiled down turns out to be PRICE. I’ve been a motor head all my life and have always been Eurocentric. Honda sort of captured my imagination for a while, when they were still building the NSX, Integra Type R, EF8 CRX SiR and other sporty models. But Kia has always been a bargain basement brand; the brand people who couldn’t afford Japanese makes went out and bought.

Lately, however, Kia has moved up market. I began to notice that their fit and finish was improving. Floor carpets that layed down flat with no air pockets, A, B and C pillar inner panels which fit flush with the headliners, even door gaps, trunk and hood gaps which lined up equally. Hmmm, looks like Kia was beginning to give Honda and Toyota a run for the money!

However, would I still DESIRE one? Nope. None of the models had that I’d seen had that ‘Object of Desire’ factor which pulled me in like a CRX SiR or Golf GTi would. That was before I drove the Forte Koup.

It was late in April 2009 and I found myself at Namyang R&D Centre in South Korea, part of a group of Malaysian journalists brought over by the Malaysian distributor, Naza Kia Sdn. Bhd. to test drive the Forte, Forte Koup and Forte ‘Eco Dynamics’ Hybrid. The R&D guys were obviously every excited over showing us their ‘technology’ so they threw in the Borrego FCEV too!

Kia’s R&D team, which is shared with Hyundai (that’s how they get costs down), consists of 8.000 people across the world, in Namyang, Mabuk (Eco Technology), Kia Design Centre Europe (Frankfurt), Europe Technical Centre (Russelheim) India Engineering Centre (Hyderabad), California Proving Ground (Mojave Desert), America Technical Centre (Michigan), Kia Design Centre and America Design & Technical Centre (Irvine, California) and even a Japan R&D Centre in Chiba, Japan which concentrates on electronic and hybrid development.

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Test drive of the 2010 Kia Forte SX 6-speed manual and LX 5-speed manual

I had an appointment this morning to test drive both EX and SX manual versions of the 2010 Kia Forte. It turned out that there was no EX available, and I drove a base LX with the 2.0L and 5-speed manual. This is an acceptable subsitute for the EX, as LX and EX only differ in equipment level and tire size.

The test loop I chose was fairly complete, with a lot of badly broken pavement on local roads, followed by highway driving, including a long uphill section. I drove the test loop with the LX first, then switched to the SX and drove over the same course. Here are the highlights:

Engine
Although the 2.0L (LX, EX) is adequate, the 2.4L in the SX feels markedly stronger. The difference in normal driving is low-end torque. There is not much below 3000 rpm with the 2.0, while the 2.4 has some grunt off the line and pulls strongly from 2500 rpm.

Transmission
Both the 5-speed (LX) and 6-speed (SX) are slick shifting. Throws are short and precise. The 5-speed has the 2.0L engine spinning at 3000 rpm at 120 kmh, which is perfect (not too tall), as there is still a decent throttle response available. On the 6-speed, 5th is almost the same as on the 5-speed, while the 6th gear drops revs to 2500 rpm at 120 km. On the long highway uphill climb, the 2.0 engine needs a downshift in 4th to built momentum, while the 2.4 engine is able to build up speed slowly in 5th.

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Kia Soul receives the highest possible rating in frontal crash tests

There are many people who have postponed buying the 2010 Kia Soul until they see the official crash test results conducted either by American NHSTA or European EuroNCAP safety agencies. Well, it was a long wait but the crash test results for the funky Kia Soul are finally in and they appear to be very good.

It was the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that conducted the first frontal crash and here’s the video that proves Kia Soul offers a very good protection for all the occupants. Although there are limited information on the final results right now, the NHTSA announced the Soul received the highest possible 5 star safety rating for the driver and a 5 star safety rating for the passenger.

The 2010 Kia Soul is a very popular choice among US consumers and these positive crash test results will most definitely spur the interest in the funky crossover. The new Soul crossover is Kia’s newest vehicle and it is a prime example of Kia’s commitment to providing the most up-to-date standard safety features in it’s vehicles.

2010 Kia Sorento XM first-drive

The 2010 Sorento has been officially unveiled to the public at Seoul auto show last month and that means the model is ready to go on sale. First, in Korean market and later it’s sales will gradually spread overseas.

New Sorento is replacing the good-old first generation Sorento model that has been on sale since 2002. It’s sales numbers prove that it has been a huge success for Kia. Since it’s introduction Kia sold nearly 900.000 units worldwide, making it one of the best selling Kia vehicles ever. 

Now, the second generation Sorento has been born and besides a whole new exterior and interior design, there is a wide range of state-of-the-art technologies applied to the vehicle; many for the first time in a Kia vehicle. The most important among all is the all-new EURO5, R-diesel engine developed jointly by Kia Motors and Hyundai Motor Company.

The new diesel engine features all the technical know-how that Korean automaker has aquired over the past few years when it has heavily invested into research and development.

Available in two different displacements, the R-engine has been developed with the aim of being the world’s best four-cylinder diesel engine. According to Kia engineers at Kia-Buzz.com, the R-diesel engine is one of the best in it’s class and outperforms competitors in terms of power and fuel efficiency!

The 2.0L engine, which will soon be available in the next generation Sportage packs 184 horsepower and 392Nm of torque, while it’s bigger brother, the 2.2L engine delivers even more impressive 200 horsepower and a maximum torque of 436Nm. These figures put both engines ahead of those offered by competitors such as Toyota, VW or even BMW and Mercedez-Benz.

In addition to high power, both engines also deliver an outstanding fuel economy. The 2.2L diesel engine equipped Sorento can achieve 14.4 kilometers with only 1L of fuel, which makes it the most fuel efficient crossover/SUV vehicle in the Korean market.

Converted to the US MPG, it means the 2010 Sorento can achieve up to 33 MPG!! That’s better than Kia Soul! Unfortunately, it’s very unlikely we will ever see the engine in the US market, but gas prices are expected to raise back to their record highs already by 2012 and that could force Kia (and other automakers) to change their plans and offer more vehicles with “fuel sipping” diesel engines in the States.

Korean on-line magazine, the Global Auto News has just recently been able to get behind the wheel of next generation Kia Sorento. They have published an extensive test-drive report and taken a huge amount of interesting exterior and interior images. I advise you to visit their website in order to see all of the great shots and check out their first-drive report (translated by Google translate). [Source: Global Auto News]

Kia Soul Owners Forum website is currently off-line. The site has been hacked yesterday by a group of hackers named Mafia Hackers Team. The attackers left this message on the blog, so if you entered the site you could have seen it.

We have been working hard to bring the website back and in if everything goes well, you’ll be able to access it in a couple of hours! Best regards!… himi

UPDATE: Thanks to our hosting provider Red Zion company, the Soul Forums website is back on-line. I’m pleased to announce that none of the 4.581 forum posts has been lost!

2010 Kia Forte vs Mazda3 vs Toyota Corolla comparisson test 

So, I’ve had the chance to spend a lot of time in the new 2010 Kia Forte and put it through paces on course. First off I got to run the 2.0LT LX Forte in an automatic and the 2.4 LT SX in the 6-Speed M/T. There was also a 2010 Mazda 3 and 2009 Toyota Corolla for me to test in comparison.

I’m not even going to talk about Toyota Corolla. That car is antiquated at best. Yes they drive nicely, but not nearly as nice as the other two and the styling and finish is dated already. Toyota needs a redesign.

The Mazda 3 is a nice car. Fit an finish is well done and it drives really nice ( not nicer than the Forte though). It handles well, feels good, and it was a lot of fun through the course. The Key difference between the Forte and the Mazda are what the Mazda doesn’t have. It has less features, less horsepower and torque, and less space, and when it all adds up it costs $6,000.00 more.

And now the Kia Forte…

This car is impressive. What KIA did to change it’s face with the SOUL, it has done again with the FORTE. Aside from the course I also got to take it out for a one hour road and highway test drive. (continue your read after the jump!)

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Kia Motors America announces April 2009 sales 

For the past three months, Kia has been, in addition to Hyundai and Subaru, one of the hottest performers -in terms of new car sales – on the US market with sales slightly up when compared to same period of last year. While other automakers were loosing ground, Kia managed to increase both it’s sales and market share. And while we hoped the positive sales momentum to continue, it was April last month when Kia posted it’s first sales decline this year.

With sales lower by 14%, the company still managed to fare better than most of the brands. In April 2009, Kia dealers moved 25.606 units from their showrooms which means Kia sold approximately 4.000 units less than in April 2008.

Leading the US sales was a “soon-to-be-replaced” Spectra sedan with more than 7.000 units sold. It was followed by a sub-compact Rio and Soul crossover in second and third spot respectively. April’s Kia sales-by-model table reveals the company has sold a record number of Soul urban crossovers in April.

With 3.228 units sold, the Soul became the third most popular Kia vehicle in the US market. The 2010 Kia Soul was launched at the end of February and by the end of the month 34 Soul were sold. But already next month, it’s sales passed the 1.000 units mark and now, in it’s third month on sale it crossed a record high 3.000 units! Since it’s February arrival, 4.508 Souls were sold already.