There is a lot of thought put into advertising when a new car is released into the market. The goal is to promote your vehicle in a way that will appeal to your target market, whilst also getting across the design and features that come along with the car.

As far as advertising goes, it’s safe to say that Kia hit it out of the park in 2009 when they released the new Soul; the combination of a cool looking car and a trio of hip hop hamsters wowed critics and consumers alike.

Music has always played a large part in advertising, and matching a song with a car can end up in sales success for the automaker and the artist. With that in mind, Kia will be debuting a new Soul ad during the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday August 28th. The ad will once again feature the hamsters, this time bopping along to the huge summer smash “Party Rock Anthem,” by LMFAO.

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New Kia Rio 5-door goes on sale in the UK in September with a choice of 2 petrol and 2 diesel engines.

Over the past few years, Kia has made huge inroads in the UK market, this despite the fact they did not have a valid entry in the subcompact, or supermini as it’s known in Britain, market.

That looks to change with the release of the 4th generation of Rio on September 1st. The Ford Fiesta has long been the go to supermini for the British car buying public, but the new Kia Rio may just give those drivers something to think about when it comes time for a new car.

The latest edition will come with 4 engine choices (2 petrol and 2 diesel) all of which will have improved fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, with the 1.1L, 3-cylinder turbodiesel performing better than any other car on the market, including hybrids. The other options will be a 1.25 L petrol, and a 1.4 L available in both options.

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Interest in the Kia brand and its highly attractive cars and CUVs is at record highs, and with that in mind, the History Channel show “odern Marvels” decided to visit the plant and a Kia Sorento CUV get built from start to finish; here is what they saw.

Each of the Kia vehicles takes a little over 23 hours to complete, and each one starts life as a 44,000 lb coil of galvanized steel which is passed through an enormous machine which cuts the unrolled coil to size before sending those pieces into the stamping press. In less than an hour, those pieces are transformed into a stack of auto body parts.

The next stop is the welding shop where the robot is king; there are 242 robots as compared to 62 human workers. The 2000 weld performed on each vehicle would take a full day for humans to complete, with that same task finished in less than 90 minutes by the robots.

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Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com names Kia Motors America “BEST TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP BRAND”!

The price a consumer pays for a new car is only a small piece in the big picture when it comes to the costs involved in owning and operating a vehicle. Other factors that come into play in the overall cost are fuel prices, financing, car insurance, maintenance repairs and Kelley Blue Book -KBB residual values.

With that in mind, KBB introduced a new 5-year cost tool last July; the tool was designed to inform car buyers which brands had represented the best overall vale during the first 5 years of ownership.

When the latest results were announced on August 17th, it was great news for Kia Motors America with Kia and Hyundai placing 1st and 2nd respectively in the Total Cost Of Ownership (TCO) in the non-luxury car under $40,000 segment. The major factors which swung the results in their favor where the fuel economy, which the KMA brand has become synonymous with, and depreciation value; where the average vehicle come in at 30% of MSRP after 5 years, Kia and Hyundai are now hovering in the 45% range.

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Fans and followers of the Kia brand have been waiting with eager anticipation for news regarding the release of the 2012 Kia Soul. That big news came today, and it’s all good; Kia Motors America announced that the new version of the Soul will be released at the best in class price of $13.900, the Soul A/T at $15.700, and the top of the range Soul!(exclaim) starting at under $20.000.

That’s a fantastic price for a vehicle that is delivering on the promise of better fuel economy and more power. The all-new Kia Soul 2012 Model Year has amped up the horsepower on both the 1.6L (138hp, an increase of 16) and 2.0L (now 164hp, an increase of 22), while also increasing fuel efficiency, thanks in large part to Kia’s new six-speed automatic transmission and Idle Stop and Go system, to 28 mpg in the city and 35 highway, a huge selling point considering the high prices at the pump.

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Kia Motors Company previews sensational K9 rear-wheel-drive sports sedan concept!

Earlier today, Kia released five images of its all-new concept vehicle that will make its official debut at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show.

Designed under the direction of Kia design boss Peter Schreyer, the K9 concept car features attractively styled exterior layout with low-slung roof, which gives the sedan a coupe-like profile, while inside, the K9 features sophisticated and elegant four-seater cockpit.

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New Kia Sedona receives the “Best Reviewed” award in the Budget Minivan category!

It seems like its awards season in the car world, with new prizes and plaudits being handed out on a daily basis. It also appears that every time those awards are announced, one or more of Kia’s line-up manages to make it onto the winner’s podium.

The latest Kia model to be shown some love was the 2011 Sedona, which received the “Best Reviewed” accolade in the Budget Minivan category from the good folks over at ConsumerSearch.com. The items that tipped the award in Kia’s favor were the warranty, safety features, handling and interior design.

ConsumerSearch.com arrives at its decision by compiling the reviews of experts as well as those who own or have driven the vehicle in question. Those reviews are rated by credibility, comparison against other similar reviews, and other review factors in order to arrive at the final result.

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Kia unveils 2012 Picanto 3-door, which is scheduled to go on sale in Europe in September 2011!

Kia has released a 3-door version of the all-new Picanto city-car, which has been first previewed at the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year. Available in a 3-door body style for the first time ever, the all-new Picanto is a sportier version of the 5-door model that has been on sale in Europe since late spring.

As you would expect, the 2012 Picanto 3-door adopted some minor design tweaks that give the car a sportier feel and set it further apart from the 5-door model.

The main grille has been opened up somewhat and has received new trim that comes in silver or red. The front bumper has received a bit of a makeover, giving the car a lower, wider appearance, again aimed at giving the vehicle a sporty styling. At rear, the bumper has been given black rectangular insert in place of body-colored paint, and chrome tipped twin exhaust completes the miniature sports car re-design.

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Despite a flagging economy, car sales in the US have remained steady, with most of the major players seeing moderate increases in the in monthly sales figures. The same cannot be said for the Australian market, where new car sales have taken a backwards step with sales figures for the first quarter dropping 1.3 percent over the same time period last year.

The sole shining light in those figures was Kia, whose sales figures took a 1.7 percent jump in that same timeframe. The South Korean automaker’s biggest gains came in the small passenger car department, with sales for the Cerato up an astonishing 101 percent over last year, and 70 percent this first quarter. Also performing well in this category, was the Kia Soul with a solid 17.4 percent gain for the year.

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As Japanese carmakers strive to bring their sales back to the same levels as they were before the tsunami disaster, Kia and its parent company Hyundai Motor Company continue to post record sales month after month.

Earlier this week, Kia Motors announced its global sales in July 2011 increased 15 percent to 208.074 units, while sales through the first seven months of the year have soared by 19.1 percent to reach record high 1.412.191 units!

Kia’s hottest selling car last month was the Forte compact car (also know as Cerato in some International markets) with 34.452 units sold. Taking second spot was the popular Sportage compact CUV with sales of 28.079 units. The third and fourth best-selling Kia cars were the Sorento mid-size CUV and 2012 Kia Rio with  21.408 and 19.403 units sold, respectively. Rounding out the top 5 best-selling Kia vehicles was the 2012 Soul crossover, which received a mid-cycle facelift for the 2012 model year.

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The competitive world of car sales requires automakers to get a little creative when it comes to advertising and promoting their brand. Kia, refusing to rest on their laurels, came up with a fun concept to promote the latest version of their all-new Rio sub-compact car.

The promotion was called the Great British Challenge, which required the driver to leave from Belfast, Ireland and travel through every country in the UK, with the final destination being the Kia cricket oval in London. Sounds fun, but the catch is that it has to be done on a single tank of gas.

The entire trip clocks in at 797 miles and begins on a ferry from Ireland to Scotland. This may seem like a ridiculous distance to complete on a single tank, but the new Rio runs on a diesel engine, which is not only better for the environment, but will run up to 800 miles on a full tank; the challenge will definitely put that claim to the test.

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Hyundai and Kia seem to be well on track to sell 11.000 Sonata Hybrid and 6.000 K5 hybrid cars in Korea this year!

These are heady times for Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia here in the US, with both of them posting record breaking sales figures and picking up design awards at a prodigious clip. They have both pounced on the woes of Toyota and Honda, carving out a solid niche stateside, by providing cars that are reliable, affordable, and, probably most importantly for most, great on gas. This success story is all well and good, but it begs the question; does that success here translate to sales and success in their homeland?

Before we answer that question, it may be a good idea to look at the current shift in the car market towards green-friendly, hybrid vehicles, as opposed to the gas guzzlers that have dominated the US market in particular. The ridiculously high price of gas, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down, has driven the auto buying public to search for alternatives in the shape of fuel friendly cars and hybrid models produced by their favorite manufacturer. It is that trend that has helped boost the sales of Hyundai and Kia at home and abroad.

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Kia announces record July sales as popular 7-seat Sorento crossover posts its best-ever monthly sales!

There have been a number of outside forces that seem to be teaming up in an attempt to stall the new car market in the US these past few months.

Whilst a flagging economy and high fuel prices have hurt here at home, the biggest factor that hurt July sales was the problems still being experienced by Japanese car giants Honda and Toyota, still reeling after theearthquake and tsunami disaster. It was the lack of availability of their vehicles that dropped increase in sales from the previous year to a modest 1 percent.

Whilst most of the big name automakers experienced some level of growth, they all paled in comparison to the South Korean carmaker Kia, which sold in excess of 45.000 cars during the month of July, a 29 percent increase over the previous year, and their second best month ever.

Those are numbers fit for a king, and the jewel in the crown would have to be the Sorento which posted an astonishing 13.262 units sold for the month, a personal best for the vehicle This is a vehicle that has been a consistent performer for the brand, and these sorts of results just go to prove that there seems no end in sight to that upward trend.

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When it comes to cars, it’s safe to say that the Germans know a thing or two about performance, design and beauty. No surprise then that the newest international brand and design contest was organized and judged by the German Design Council, a name synonymous with design excellence since 1953.

The Automotive Brand Contest ranks vehicles on their overall design, as well as interior, exterior, and advertising campaigns, with a total of 15 different categories up for consideration. The big winner in the inaugural contest was Kia who snagged 4 of the coveted awards, beating out BMW who walked away with 3.

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