The all-new Kia Picanto went on sale in the UK in mid-June and the ultra-compact “city car” is bound to appeal to people of all ages, not least because of the company’s radical 7-year warranty program. How much roughly, though, can potential future owners expect to pay in car insurance?

First up, here are a few details about the car itself. The Picanto is a 5-door, 5-seat hatchback and prices range from just under £8,000 ($12,800) for the most basic model right up to little over £11,000 ($17,600) for the Picanto “3″, which has a 1.25L engine. With low fuel consumption and CO2 emission, it’s easy on the pocket at the pump and on the environment.

Let’s start by trying to insure one of the cheaper models, the Picanto “1 AIR”, which has a 1.0L engine. The cheapest comprehensive cover we found after inserting all the relevant details into moneysupermarket.com, the leading price comparison website, came out at £639 ($1,023) with a company called Admiral.

This policy was based on a 28-year-old male driver that does 10,000 miles annually, has been driving for five years with the same amount of no claims discount and who plans to park the car in a safe spot at all times of the day and night. In comparison, the most expensive cover was £926 ($1,481) with Likewise.

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Interesting facts about the 2012 Kia Rio: First unveiled at Geneva Auto Show earlier this year, the all-new 2012 Kia Rio hatchback joins the carmaker’s product range with striking exterior design, revised interior and impressive performance.

The fourth-generation Rio sub-compact car will be available in two body-styles for the first time. The five-door model is set to go on sale in Europe in several weeks, while the three-door Rio arrives at Kia dealerships in early 2012.

The 2012 Kia Rio is available with a highly efficient 1.1L CRDI diesel engine that emits only 85 grams of CO2 per kilometer. U.S. market Rio is available with a highly-advanced 1.6L GDI four-cylinder engine that churns out 138 horsepower and achieves 40-mpg on highway. Six-speed automatic and 6-speed manual transmissions are available.

The new Rio is noticeably larger than the car it replaces. Its wheelbase is 70mm longer, while the body is 20mm longer and 25mm wider. Inside the Rio offers 45mm more front legroom and seven percent more luggage room than its predecessor.

Safety features available in the 2012 Rio include six airbags, anti-lock brake system -ABS, three-point seatbelts for all seating positions, electronic stability control -ESC, hill-start assist control, vehicle stability management system -VSM, active front seat head restraints and emergency stop signal.

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Kia Motors sold 216.106 vehicles globally in June 2011. The number represents a year-on-year increase of 17.4 percent. All major sales regions post double-digit year-on-year sales increase.

With 52,121 units sold in North America, 33,749 units sold in China, and 44,422 units sold in Europe, Kia has shown robust growth in most markets; the year on year growth for these markets is 38%, 26.6% and 24.8% respectively. Sales in general markets increased by 10.0 percent to 43,614 units sold, whereas sales in the Korean home market for the month of June declined by 5.0 percent (42.200 units sold).

Over the first six months of the year 2011, Kia has seen the sales of its vehicles increase more than 19.8% to 1,204,117 units sold globally. North America has been the best performing market during this period, showing a sales growth of 41.5% with 278,199 units sold.

Other regions too have shown robust growth in this period, with sales in China, Europe and General Markets increasing by 19.0%, 17.2% and 14.8%, respectively. Overall Korean sales increased by 8.8% to 248,345 units sold.

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Kia is rumored to be working on a series of sports cars, including the new V8-powered sports coupe that is scheduled to make its official premiere as a concept car at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

In order to bolster the brand’s image and give the company a standout flagship vehicle, Kia aims to enter a muscle car arena.  According to British magazine WhatCar?, Kia plans to unveil a pair of concpet cars to gauge interest among consumers in Europe and USA.

First Kia concept coupe to be displayed is the V8-powered rear-wheel-drive sports coupe that shares its RWD platform and V8 Tau engine with the 2012 Hyundai Genesis sedan. The unnamed V8 coupe will be followed by another study, using the same architecture and powertrain technology as the first one.

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Kia Motors’ West Point, Georgia plant reaches a milestone with the production of 300,000th vehicle…

Kia Motors America has announced that it has produced the 300.000 vehicles in its West Point, Georgia plant. This milestone comes less than two years after production of the Kia Sorento began at the KMMG on Nov 16, 2009.

Since its opening, the KMMG plant has added two shifts, and hired more than 1000 new team members, taking the total number of employed at the plant to more than 3,000. In addition, the plant’s auto parts suppliers have also hired more than 7.500 individuals and added to the local economy.

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A new marketing campaign built on the theme of “small but mighty” has been launched by Kia to promote the all-new Picanto in the European markets.

The advertising campaign highlights the Picanto along with a pet cat named Henry, the proverbial “small but mighty” character. Henry is fun, inquisitive, agile, and has a personality that is much bigger than its size, much like the Picanto.

According to Benny Oeyen, Vice President of Marketing and Product Planning, Kia Motors Errope, the new campaign tries to dispel the traditional idea that a small car cannot have a big personality and design. The campaign places the Picanto in front of a completely new group of potential consumers in a appealing manner.

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Kia Belgium CEO undergoes a lie detector test to assure consumers about the carmaker’s 7-year warranty program!

In a first of its kind marketing campaign, Kia Belgium has strapped none else but its CEO to a lie detector machine and allowed consumers to ask him questions about the warranty and other services offered by the company.

The lie detector machine was used to assure the consumers that what was stated in the ad was in fact the truth, and there were no caveats involved. The most important question asked was whether the 7-year warranty advertized by the company was in fact true.

Because no other company offers a 7-year warranty, consumers were naturally wondering whether the offer was too good to be true. To get its message of this never before offer to them the company had to take this first of its kind step. To this end, they contacted Legal Connections, a company that gives polygraph services, and asked them to hook up their CEO, Benoit Morrene.

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Kia announces record June 2011 sales thanks to impressive sales performance of the Soul and Sorento crossover vehicles!

New vehicle sales numbers are finally here and there’s nothing but good news for Kia, as well as its parent company Hyundai. Both South Korean carmakers posted double-digit sales growth for the month of June 2011 thanks to brisk sales of new models such as Optima and Sonata mid-size sedans, new Elantra, Sportage and Soul crossovers.

Kia Motors America reported its sales last month increased 41 percent to 45.044 vehicles from 31.906 a year ago. Sales of the car maker’s best-selling vehicles, the Soul and Sorento CUVs, increased  76 percent and 16 percent, respectively. Kia Soul sales hit 11.314 units, while Sorento posted sales of 10.013 units.

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With their combined sales figures, the South Korean carmakers Kia and Hyundai have topped the mid-size segment in the United States. This milestone was reached this May, when Hyundai and Kia sold 30.155 cars, among which were 22.754 Sonatas from Hyundai and 7.401 Optimas from Kia.

The two companies had topped the sales figures for March too, and with the latest numbers, their dominance in mid-size car segment is pointing at a new trend in the market. Already, the two manufacturers have captured about 19.0 percent of the mid-size sedan market, compared to the second place manufacturer GM, which has 18.8 percent of the market.

Hyundai and Kia have long had a reputation of cheap cars, but with the latest rankings, experts aver that the old attitudes towards the two manufacturers are changing. A company representative noted that, the ranking signifies that U.S. consumers no long consider Hyundai and Kia to be low-end car brands.

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