Picanto News: Scrappage Scheme Exhausts Picanto Stock

In a letter to its dealer network Kia have revealed that they have received over 4000 orders for the Picanto 1.0 through the Scrappage Incentive Scheme, and as a result supply has been exhausted.

Further to this, supply of other Picanto models is now limited and Kia expect supply to run out by the end of May.

New 2010 Picanto Early Launch

In order to keep the momentum going Kia have taken the unprecedented step of pulling forward the launch of 2010 Picanto from October.

2010 Picanto 1.0 will be available to order from Kia from tomorrow with the Picanto Chill replacement available by the end of this month. Arrivals of the 2010 Picanto are expected in August with delivery to dealers by the mid part of the month.

The main changes to 2010 Picanto 1.0 will be an increase in price of £300 taking the entry model to £6495 on the road.

Changes to specification are limited to minor cosmetic changes only and these will be announced in more detail on June 1st. The Picanto 1.0 will be available in a choice of 3 colours; white (solid), black and silver.

Picanto News: Picanto from £10 per week

With the budget finally out of the way (thank god) and the decision to follow other European countries and offer a car scrappage scheme, Kia have announced details on how you can buy a new Picanto 1.0 from only £10 per week.

Whilst the final details are yet to be ironed out, the car scrappage scheme basically means anybody owning a vehicle over 10yrs old, providing they have owned it for more than a year, can get £2000 off a new or nearly new vehicle.

The government's contribution, or shall we say the tax payers contribution, is £1000 with Kia stumping up the rest.

The latest offer from Kia applies to a new Picanto 1.0 5dr in conjunction with Kia's Access finance package or PCP (Personal Contract Plan). This is where the new car's future value is calculated in advance and then defered until the end of the agreement. At the end of the agreement the consumer can either purchase the vehicle for that amount or simply walk away.

The advantage the car scrapping scheme offers is that a larger amount of deposit (£2000 in this case) can be put down on the vehicle reducing the Picanto 1.0 down from £6195 to only £4195. The guaranteed minimum future value (GMFV) of the Picanto (approx £2500 over a typical 3yr agreement depending on mileage) is taken from the remaining balance. Kia are also advocating an additional £1000 from the consumer which would leave a small balance resulting in a low monthly payment of £40 per month or roughly £10 per week.

Given that the vast majority of consumers who drive an older car do so because a new car was previously beyond the purse strings, it's unlikely they'd want to stump up an additional £1000. Still even withut the extra deposit a Picanto 1.0 would still only be around £80 per month or £20 per week.

Still it illustrates how affordable and appealing a new car is to those of us who have had to drive in an older car for the last few years and had the repair bills to go with it.

One thing to bear in mind when looking to purchase through PCP schemes is they are tailored to annual mileage. Most manufacturers will quote the lowest monthly payment based on the lowest allowed mileage (usually between 7 - 10,000 per annum). However these packages are flexible so you need to be aware of this to avoid additional mileage charges when it comes to the end of the agreement.

Picanto News: Picanto Driving School Programme

Kia announced an industry leading offer for Driving Schools for its April/May campaign.

The deal is available across a number of Kia models but is particularly adapt to the Picanto range as the car is a popular choice amongst driving instructors.

Included in the package is a Discount Fuel Card, Bumper Mouldings and Free Insurance. Dual Controls are not available free of charge on the Picanto but are available on the Rio, Ceed and Pro Ceed.

You can get details of this latest package from your local Kia Dealer.

Picanto News: Picanto Chill Goes Yellow

Kia announced a new colour for the Picanto range.

The ‘Fresh Yellow’ colour will replace ‘Clear White’ on the 1.1 Picanto Chill from April. This is a solid paint colour (currently available on Picanto 3) and there is no paint charge for this colour.

Kia will slowly faze out the current production of white painted Picanto and replace these with Yellow over the next few months. This leaves the Picanto Chill colour range at 5 including Bright Silver, Soda Orange, Cool Blue, Galaxy Black and finally Fresh yellow.

Picanto News: Will UK Picanto Get Stop & Go

As Kia announced that full scale production of six new Kia Ceed ISG (Idle Stop & Go) models will commence at it's new European factory in Slovakia, we started to get excited.

However a closer look at the small print reveals that only left hand drive models go into production with no announcment, as of yet, for right hand drive models. This asks the question as to whether it'll ever happen and if so will the new technology find its way to the Picanto.

The new Idle Stop & Go technology, or ISG for short, automatically switches the engine off when the car is stopped in traffic and restarts the engine instantly when the driver wishes to move again. In typical city driving conditions, with heavy traffic and constant stop-start motoring, the ISG system dramatically cuts fuel consumption and emissions – by up to 15%. In everyday mixed driving over town, country and motorway routes, the officially measured fuel saving is 6% on the combined cycle.

Kia revised the Picanto range to achieve lower emissions by removing one of the rear seats to reduce weight. Whilst this brought the Picanto range into the key Band B segment, the move is bound to hit sales for those wanting a 5 seat alternative like the Hyundai i10, which offers both lower emissions through new 'Kappa' engine technology as well as seating 5 occupants.

The delay in RHD production echo's the problem Kia had when delivering a diesel variant of the Picanto for the UK. With emissions and ecomony playing a major part in the decision making for car buyers, Kia can ill afford anymore design issue's which may effect what can and can't come to the UK.

However the Korean Corporation is in a different league to what it was two years ago and is continuing a massive investment in eco-friendly technologies for the future. Intensive R&D programs are developing hybrid, fuel cell and electric vehicles for volume production in the next decade. Hyundai recently announced that Idle Stop & Go technology will see its way into their new Hyundai i20 supermini so hopefully we'll see Kia employing the same strategy in their own small cars.