Many of you will have seen the TV commercial for the Picanto where Kia use animated characters created by artist Pete Fowler.

Until today we were not aware that they all had names and were part of a big family and a bigger picture. In the Picanto commercial it showed a group of girls (Shioban, Susan, Gina & shopping bags) pulling up in a second hand car, driven by Shioban, with 3 doors. As Susan (pictured left) tries to get out of the back, she summersaults out onto the pavement in a rather undignified manner.

Just then along comes the same characters driving a shiny new Picanto with 5 doors. This time Susan is able to step out of the rear with ease. The message being “why spend £5,500 on a second hand car with 3 doors, when you can buy a brand new Picanto with 5 doors. If you have not seen the advert you can find it here and the rest of the characters here.

Moving on from that, Kia are now set to expand this family with a new member called “Afrobilly.” Apparantly he’s a Hillbilly with an ‘Afro’ but looks more like a war veteran from Vietnam if you ask us.

He’s to star in a new set of TV commercials for the all new Kia Rio which will be aired in January 2006. Look forward to that and welcome to the family erm…Afrobilly!