Kia News
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Kia has announced details of its updated Optima Hybrid, new for the 2013 model year. Just about every aspect of the car has been improved, resulting in a car that now offers greater fuel efficiency, improved space, better performance and a higher standard of equipment. Central to the changes are updates to the car's hybrid running gear. For 2013, the Kia Optima Hybrid gets what Kia describes as a "more robust" 47-horsepower electric traction motor, a stronger hybrid starter generator, and a more powerful 47 kW lithium polymer battery pack. Surprisingly, the overall combined output from...
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Kia Provo Hybrid Crossover Debuts At 2013 Geneva Motor Show
In opening up a class for compact crossovers, the Nissan Juke has unwittingly made it a requirement that any competing vehicle must scare the average child at fifty paces. That's the best explanation we can come up with for the Kia Provo concept, due for unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show when it...
Antony Ingram -
2014 Kia Forte Five-Door: Chicago Auto Show Live Photos
It's a lot of fun attenting auto shows. We get to see the latest cars the second they're unveiled, hear the reactions of other show-goers, and write about it to audiences eager to see where their next car is coming from. But it's also hard work, which is why we rather appreciated Kia's offer of...
Antony Ingram -
2014 Kia Forte 5-Door: 2013 Chicago Auto Show
Kia Motors America has today unveiled a new 5-door version of the Forte at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show. The sleek five-door hatchback has what Kia describes as 'European styling', and goes head-to-head with cars like the Ford Focus with its hatchback practicality. Topping the engine range is a...
Antony Ingram -
Kia Provoke Concept Debuts Geneva, Joins Small Crossover Party
Hot on the heels of Honda's Urban SUV concept shown at Detroit, Korean automaker Kia is also getting in on the urban crossover act. The Kia Provoke Concept is set to appear at the Geneva Motor Show in early March. It's described as a "provocative and racy new urban concept car, and while the...
Antony Ingram -
Hyundai And Kia MPG Mistakes 'Betrayed' Buyers, Honda Exec Says
Hyundai and Kia's recent EPA mileage overstating scandal has attracted sharp criticism from one top Honda Motor Co. U.S. executive. John Mendel, executive vice president of Honda's U.S. car sales, feels the Korean duo betrayed the trust of customers under competitive pressure. Mendel told industry...
Antony Ingram -
Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have revealed details on reimbursement for the owners of 1.1 million vehicles affected by overstated EPA mileage. The EPA found the quoted gas mileage of 13 Hyundai and Kia vehicles to be greater than official testing could achieve. Hyundai models affected included the Accent, Azera, Elantra, Genesis, Santa Fe, Sonata Hybrid, Tucson and Veloster. Kia vehicles included the Optima Hybrid, Rio, Sorento, Soul and Sportage. Most were only 1-2 mpg out, but some were found to be significantly awry--the Soul was 6 mpg overstated. According to The Detroit News, both...
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2014 Kia Forte: Los Angeles Auto Show Live Photos
Today at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Kia took the wraps off its new compact car, the 2014 Kia Forte. As our live images from the show floor demonstrate, the 2014 Forte is a sleeker, more aerodynamic four-door sedan than the car it replaces--now much closer in shape to its Hyundai Elantra sibling...
John Voelcker -
Hyundai-Kia Gas Mileage Fiasco: What Does It Mean For You?
Now the recriminations--and lawsuits--will start. And we expect the focus on real-world gas mileage to increase, following news that Hyundai and Kia will revise gas-mileage figures downward on 13 different models from the 2011, 2012, and 2013 model years--and reimburse buyers for the extra money...
John Voelcker -
Hyundai, Kia Face Federal Lawsuits For Overstated Gas Mileage
Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia are being sued in U.S. courts over inflating gas mileage ratings on 2011-2013 vehicles. It was revealed on Friday that both automakers had reported higher numbers on EPA window stickers than the cars were actually capable of in EPA economy testing. Both companies...
Antony Ingram -
Hyundai, Kia Rapped By EPA Over Misstated MPG Stickers
The EPA has ordered Kia and Hyundai to amend window stickers on 13 models from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 model years after the two companies were found to be misstating the cars' true efficiency. The companies will also have to pay damages to 900,000 owners across the U.S. According to Associated...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Kia Optima Hybrid Touts Its World Record Gas Mileage (Video)
What do you do if you want to promote your latest high-MPG offering to consumers? You could report the model's official EPA figures, if you think they look good enough. Or, if you're Kia, you send two professional drivers on an 8,000-mile, 48-state journey around the U.S. and report their...
Antony Ingram -
More often than most automakers would care to admit, that new car that you see debuted at a major auto show will undergo some minor -- and sometimes major -- alterations before it hits the dealer forecourt. Take the 2012 Kia Rio, for example. Officially launched at the 2011 New York Auto Show, Kia had promised its redesigned compact, available as a hatchback or sedan, would come with optional Start-Stop technology, which it calls Idle Stop & Go (ISG). Sadly, between the show floor and the dealer lot, the feature was dropped for 2012 Kia Rios, but now the South Korean automaker has...
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Kia Trackster Concept: 2012 Chicago Auto Show Preview
Like much of the auto press, we'll be at next week's Chicago Auto Show to see the covers come off the concepts and production cars. While Chicago has traditionally been a truck show, at least one maker is unveiling a concept for a small and economical--but still sporty and cool--compact car. The...
John Voelcker -
Hyundai, Kia To Expand Hybrids, Electrics With New Investment
If you're looking to buy a hybrid or electric car in the next few years, you could certainly do worse than to keep your eye on the Korean carmakers. Hyundai Motor Group, the company in charge of both Hyundai and Kia, has announced heavy investment into hybrid and electric technology this year...
Antony Ingram -
Forbidden Fruit: Kia Ray Electric Car Not Due In U.S.
Kia might be a car company growing in quality and reputation in North America, but it seems we aren't in line for every vehicle the company produces. While the U.S. is one of the strongest markets for electric cars, Kia's new Ray EV won't be hitting American shores, according to USA Today. Instead...
Antony Ingram -
2011 Kia Forte SX Five-Door Hatchback: Weekend Drive
While it may come from the same company as the Hyundai Elantra, our 2011 Kia Forte hatchback weekend test car is nothing like that curvaceous, fuel-efficient compact. Instead, the Forte is aiming for a kind of European performance niche--closer to a Volkswagen Golf or Jetta than the Toyota Corolla...
John Voelcker -
40-MPG 2012 Kia Rio Sedan To Start At $14,150
The new-from-the-ground-up Kia Rio sedan offers 40 mpg highway fuel economy, a wide range of standard safety features and a segment first idle stop and go system, all for a relatively low point of entry.
Kurt Ernst -
Kia has priced its 2012 Rio Hatchback, which gets 40 mpg on the highway and comes standard with start-stop, to start at a base price of $14,350.
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Kia Rio Ecodynamics: Forbidden Fruit At 2011 Frankfurt Show
For fans of ultra-economical vehicles living in the United States, life just isn't fair sometimes. While the European market gets to play with dozens of high MPG turbodiesels, we're often told to make do with small capacity gasoline engines that don't come close to matching diesel, even if they're...
Antony Ingram -
2011 Kia Optima Hybrid: First Drive Review
If any brand has emerged from the bottom of the market into awareness lately, it's Kia. The Korean brand is halfway through introducing an entirely refreshed line of smart, stylish, and inexpensive vehicles that are getting noticed--and selling well. The 2011 Kia Optima Hybrid we recently...
John Voelcker -
2011 Kia Optima Hybrid On Economy Drive, 69 MPG So Far...
We've learned to take official EPA gas-mileage ratings with a pinch of salt in the past. They're useful for comparing model to model, but not always representative of the figures real people out in the real world will achieve. That's not to say that the EPA's fuel efficiency numbers can't be...
Antony Ingram -
BREAKING: Renault Teases Frendzy Concept Before 2011 Frankfurt Show
Renault has just unveiled its latest electric car creation ahead of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. Called the Frendzy, and looking a little like the Kia Soul, the concept is a just under 14 feet in length and features a whole host of technology worthy of any concept car, including the ability to...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Should Detroit Dial Down The Doom & Gloom Over High-Mileage Rules?
We've heard this script before. Some agency of the Federal Government proposes a new rule that will affect the design and performance of cars in some way, sometime in the future. Instinctively, reflexively, automatically, viscerally, the industry lashes out. Horror, catastrophe, misery, bankruptcy!...
John Voelcker