Kia is making big waves these days and the launch of its new Rio model came with the inevitable good new stories of surging sales in Europe, Ireland and across the world.
Rio competes in the important but slipping B segment where it will be challenging high volume familiar badges like Ford Fiesta and Toyota Yaris, doing it not just with a five-door hatchback but the extra dimension of a four-door saloon.
Aside from two body shapes, new Rio is being marketed with two 1.4 and 1.6 litre petrol engines and a 1.5 litre turbodiesel. In Ireland where it makes its debut in late September, most buyer interest is likely to concern the 1.4 which, with around 100bhp has a top speed of 177km/h (110mph) and getsfrom zero to 100km/h in just over 12 seconds. We can expect an Irish starting price between €14,000 and €15,000 which would seem to give it a distinct advantage over most similarly-engined competitors from Europe and Japan.
Yet Kyung-Soo Lee, the president of Kia in Europe insisted to us that pricing isn't the winning trick any more. "Image has replaced price with us. We are not like a no-frills budget airline." He was speaking at Rio's European launch near Paris where we heard that Europe has now succeeded the US as Kia's largest overseas market with an average sales growth of 45 per cent in 2003 and 2004 and sales so far in 2005 up 62 per cent. Meanwhile Kia's Irish sales are up 48 per cent on the first six months of 2005. This year the plan is for 2,500 registrations, next year 3,500.
The new Rio's styling is smart enough though it's unlikely to turn heads in any car park. The real attributes are spacious packaging and interior refinement. Compared with the old five-door Rio it's taller (by 50mm), wider (by 15mm) and shorter (by 250mm) but with a much longer wheelbase (up 90mm).
The interior design is simple, modern and clean-cut, and executed in good quality materials that bring a lightness and brightness to the cabin.
As for the driving, we found it a bit wobbly-knobbly on badly-surfaced minor French roads and boreens. The 1.6 petrol engined car felt lively and vigorous and it could be hustled along with ease and reassurance.
Three specification levels of the Rio will be on offer here, LX, EX and EX Sport which is only available with the five-door. The EX includes 14-inch alloy wheels, front fog lights, air conditioning and front and rear electric windows while the EXS additionally offers 15-inch alloy wheels, a rearspoiler, metal grain fascia, a trip computer and a colour pack on seats and the steering wheel.
From the end of next year, Kia will be building cars in a €1.1 billion plant in Slovakia with a potential of 300,000 units annually. Latest initiative is a new €74 million design centre for Europe, close to new European headquarters that are being built in Frankfurt. "We have to keep our finger on the European pulse" commented Mr Kyung-Soo Lee very matter-of-factly.