Picanto News: Picanto Gets Lower Emissions

With cost of ownership, fuel and road tax playing a major role in modern day car buying decisions, Kia have made moves to reduce the emissions on the facelift Picanto.

From mid-July all production of Picanto's will be four seaters as opposed to some of the range having 5. The move reduces the overall weight of the vehicle which in turn improves fuel consumption on both manual and auto derivatives whilst reducing CO2 emissions. As a result the manual version drops to just 118g/km CO2 bringing it into VED tax band B, which costs the customer just £35 per year.

The first production models come in the way of a new special edition - the Kia Picanto Chill.

Available as either a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic, the Picanto Chill gets air conditioning, remote central locking, full iPod compatibility and a choice of funky colours, including a unique Cool Blue paint finish.

Priced from only £6995, The Picanto Chill also becomes exempt from the London Congestion Charge in the planned changes to the system due for introduction in October 2008. The automatic remains in tax band C with CO2 of 143g/km, costing £120 per year.

Picanto News: New Picanto To Launch 1st November

Kia UK confirmed the launch of the facelift Picanto to its dealer network today.

On the 1st of November Kia are planning a mass mailshot to existing Picanto owners called Picanto Ice, which introduces the new model to existing Picanto owners by demonstrating the ways in which it is a “hot” new number, playing on the oxymoron of it being named “Ice”.

The mailing acknowledges the things that Picanto owners love about their current model, namely its “reliability and roominess” but also promotes the new model as being highly desirable by describing the Ice’s many attributes: from exterior features such as its chic chrome grille, stylish bumpers and body coloured door mirrors to it’s extensive interior features: contemporary new stylish seat cloth, driver’s seat height adjust, inner door handles, remote central locking and newly integrated CD audio with MP3 player.

In addition the numerous safety features of the new model are described to demonstrate the fact that it is a small car but its size does not mean compromises have to be made. These features include ABS with EBD ISOFIX child seat anchors, height adjustable rear head restraints, security window etching and an engine immobiliser and alarm.

The call to action is to invite current Picanto owners to be amongst the first to experience the spicy new Ice model by contacting 0800 775 777 or by popping into their local/preferred dealership in order to arrange a test drive. Once the customer has taken a test drive of a Kia model they will be able to claim a free £10 M&S voucher.

Picanto News: Kia To Reduce Picanto Roadside Assist

If ever there was evidence that the facelift Picanto will get it's warranty extended to 5 years, the latest announcement by Kia to reduce its roadside assist package to 12 mths should go a long way to proving this.

Currently all Kia Picanto derivatives come with 3 yrs KIAssist (roadside and European recovery), but following a thorough review of the programme's usage and demand, Kia have indentified that utilisation of the programme has decreased significantly since its inception.

The service is only being used by 15% of customers in their first year of Picanto ownership, and this is falling further in years two and three. The top five call out requirements are all for user related issues such as lock-outs, running out of fuel and punctures. Incidents of actual vehicle breakdown are now running at a very low level during the three years of KIAssist cover due to Kia's improving product quality.

According to a document sent out to it's dealer network, Kia would rather use the saving of the second and third year cover and redeploy it's resources towards media investments and increasing the length of its standard vehicle warranties.

Warranty extensions have already been funded for the Kia Ceed 7 year bumper to bumper warranty and the recent extension of the Kia Carens from three to five.

All new Kia Picanto and other Kia vehicles, regardless of sales type, registered on or after the 1st September will be affected by this change. This shouldn't affect customers who have already ordered cars for the new September registration as dealers usually register vehicles prior to that date. Anybody not sure about anything should contact their Kia dealership for help.

Picanto News: Facelift Picanto To Be Launched Late 2007

At the start of a new quarter, Kia have announced that the new facelift Kia Picanto won't be with its dealer network until the end of 2007.

Although no specific date has been announced as yet, the move is simply to clear the remaining stocks of the current Picanto models.

Although stocks are pretty low, the entry-level 1.0 GS at £5,995 price-point will continue to be advertised and the 1.1 litre LS grade in both manual and automatic transmission's will be available with 1 year’s free insurance.

Terms and conditions apply:

• Full UK or EU Licence held 1 year minimum
• £100 standard excess for main driver
• £300 excess for drivers aged 21
• £250 excess for drivers aged 22 – 24
• Age 21-75 inclusive

In the meantime we'll just have to wait and see what information comes out of the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, with regards to the diesel and full UK specification.

Picanto News: New Facelift Diesel Picanto Will Be Built In RHD

But will it find its way to the UK?

Although we do post this with caution, a source close to Kia tells us that the new 2007 facelift Picanto 'will' be built in right hand drive. Whilst we still remain sceptical the signs are optimistic.

To back this up, a recent press release kit from Kia Motors Corporation, although not yet published in the UK, reveals:

New 2007 Picanto will be available with the same three engines that have proved so popular in the current model range. Customers will continue to be offered a choice of two gasoline engines or a diesel powerplant — and either a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission.

For the 2007 model, the diesel engine will also be available in right-hand drive models.

It's that last sentence which sounds like music to our ears, lets just hope it becomes a reality.

On the subject of music, the press release also confirms what we already suspected, iPod and AUX connections in an audio system that Kia describe as an all-new centre stack with a factory-fitted, tailor-made radio/CD player.

Full audio integration was first introduced in the Kia range with the Carens SUV followed by the recent Kia Ceed hatchback and facelift Sorento. A welcome change we might add as there's nothing worse than a beautifully designed dashboard being ruined by a badly fitted aftermarket cassette/radio.

Engine specification is pretty much the same as the run out models, but we'll refrain from guessing the interior features as the press kit is aimed at European variants, although we can confirm the power steering is 'electrically powered' as opposed to speed sensitive as we suggested earlier.

No mention of the warranty either, although its more likely to be increased to 5 years as opposed to the 7 year warranty of the Ceed.

Watch this space!!