Kia, The Result Of A Job Well Done

Kia is one of the brands that has evolved the most in recent years. It has managed to change the mentality of a public that, a priori, only found in them the trump card of a good price, to the point of becoming a benchmark in the quality and reliability of its products.

Getting to this point is not an easy task, especially in a country of customs like ours, where people tend to be very faithful to their lifelong marks. A hard work on the part of the Koreans, has managed to convince that their vehicles leave the factory with a level of finishes that has little or nothing to envy that of their European rivals.

Currently, the South Korean brand belongs to the Hyundai conglomerate, which has 33% of its shares and has control of most of its operations. This union is doing great to Kia, which has oriented its fleet to the European refinement that its models lacked years ago.

Constant evolution

Reliability is another section to take into account, and more so in the current market, where we can easily access this information with the numerous and rigorous controls that current vehicles have. These controls are carried out by external companies whose only objective is to offer additional information to the customer seeking to change cars.

Kia is so convinced of the reliability of its cars that it was the first brand to offer a seven-year warranty on its new vehicles. But, in addition, they are supported by the conclusions obtained by companies such as Dekra, one of the most important analysts in the world, which has positioned Kia as one of the brands that suffer the least breakdowns, being ahead of prestigious brands such as Audi, Mercedes or BMW .

And since a job well done usually has positive consequences, Kia has managed to climb to 10th in terms of sales volume so far this year, ahead of Mercedes, Audi or even its brother Hyundai. Without a doubt, a real success.

Present

To the already successful Kia Sportage, Cee’d, Picanto and company, the South Korean brand has included models that will complete the range of available vehicles, having a representative in almost all segments. The chosen ones are: Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid, Stinger and Stonic.

• Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid : Arrived in October this year, the Niro is the brand’s first all-urban hybrid. Its main novelty is that it is only sold in a hybrid version, which combines a gasoline engine with an electric one. By the end of the year or early 2018, a second plug-in hybrid option is expected, with which you can travel up to 55 kilometers in 100% electric mode without expelling a single gram of carbon dioxide. Its direct rival is the Toyota C-HR.
• Kia Stonic : Arrived in September this year, this urban SUV is below the Niro. To its attractive design we must add a very well chosen range of engines with which it will be able to face more established rivals such as the Renault Captur or the Peugeot 2008.
• Kia Stinger : it landed hard in October this year and is one of the models called to enhance the South Korean brand. The leap in quality this saloon has received is astonishing. The capabilities of this model are at the level of its best competitors, with a sporty line and powerful engines that allow it to face the German premium models with guarantees.

What’s new from Kia for 2018

At the Frankfurt Motor Show we could already see a preview of what the new Kia Cee’d promises to be, specifically it appeared with a sports family version that captivated the public, very much in the style of  shooting brake . The brand is scheduled to arrive after the summer and will share a platform with the Hyundai i30, a model with which it has many components in common.

We still have no news of the brand’s intentions to keep the Pro Cee’d variant, the sporty three-door version, on the market. Their arrival is not guaranteed by looking at the course of the market; other brands have already dispensed with these sporty variants and have focused on the five-door and the family.

Kia’s expectations for the future are promising to say the least, with the most comprehensive and attractive fleet it has ever had. In addition, it has finally entered the hybrid world, which will gradually be implemented in more vehicles. Quality, reliability and design are its hallmarks, so success is assured.