Picanto News: From Glamour To Sport

It would appear that the Kia dealer network are taking the Kia Picanto Glamour model and renaming it a Sport. This I am told is because although the Picanto is appealing to the younger market, especially the ladies, it is just not a good enough name for the car and puts people off.

We feel this is a valid point as believe it or not, the Picanto has the potential to look "mean" as this image from Concept One illustrates, when dressed up in a nice set of rims.

So we would encourage Kia to listen to its dealers and more importantly, its customers and do something about the naff alloy wheels that are offered as standard.

Why not go for something a bit more...well sporty!

Picanto News: Pricewatch: Picanto v Swift

In a recent fleet pricewatch comparison by Fleetnewsnet the Kia Picanto went head to head with the Suzuki Swift and came out the winner.

Data is taken from used car experts CAP Motor Research, to see how new cars taken on to a typical fleet might perform over the next three years/60,000 miles.

Tale of the tape.

In the red corner fighting out of Korea, the Kia Picanto 1.1 SE 5dr weighing in at a trim £7,182. And in the blue corner, all the way from Japan, the Suzuki Swift 1.3 GL 5dr weighing in at a slightly heavier £7,248.

Miles by months analysis:

• At 20,000 miles or 12 mths, the Picanto retained 58% of its value at £4,200 pounds compared to 44% or £3,175 for the Swift. That's a 14% or £1,025 advantage to the Picanto.
• At 30,000 miles or 18mths, the Picanto scores another round by retaining 51% of its value compared to 37% by the Swift. Again another 14% advantage to the Picanto.
• At 40,000 miles or 24 mths, things were still looking good for the little Kia with a retention of 45% compared to 32% for the Suzuki.
  
• At 50,000 miles or 30 mths, the percentages started to drop slightly for the Picanto, but at 39%, still over shadowed the 28% by the Swift.
• And finally at 60,000 miles or 36 mths, the Picanto dealt the knockout blow by retaining a very respectable 34% of its original value compared to 24% for the Swift.

So despite the Swift's marginally higher new price, the Picanto was still worth £750 more after 3 yrs. Add to that the fact that the Picanto SE also comes with air conditioning, alloy wheels and front fog lamps over and above the Swift GL specification, then it's clearly a no brainer.

No wonder they call the Picanto the thinking persons small car.

Source: CAP Motor Research

Picanto News: Kia Picanto Tops Rising Kia Sales In Europe

Continuing high demand across Europe for Kia products during August, pushed Kia Motors sales up 36% last month to more than 18,000 vehicles in what is traditionally a ‘quiet’ month for new car sales in the peak holiday season. Sales for the first eight months of 2005 reached almost 180,000 (178,006) units – 58% higher than the Kia brand achieved in same period of 2004.

Top of the model sales was the Kia Picanto with a total of 55,160 units delivered. The 4X4 Sorento achieved (27,083 units) followed closley by the Sportage (26,770), Carnival/Sedona (17,044) and Cerato (17,034) over the eight month period.

Jean-Charles Lievens, Senior Vice President of Kia Motors Europe said: “Even in the holiday season, our expanding dealer network attracted more new customers to the Kia brand and with supplies of the all-new Rio arriving and the launch of Picanto Diesel we expect to continue our highly successful 2005.”

Kia Motors Europe is the European sales, marketing, and service arm of Kia Motors Corporation. With its headquarters in Eschborn, Germany, it covers 28 markets in Europe. The European sales target is 300,000 units per year by 2005, thanks to new products and new diesel engines.

Picanto News: Kia Picanto Diesel Debut At Frankfurt

With an all-new three-cylinder engine, the 1.1-litre CRDi common rail diesel Picanto was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show today.

Powered by a sophisticated 75 ps engine with a variable-geometry turbocharger, the Picanto looks set to boost sales of the corporation´s A-Segment model even further when it goes on sale later this year.

Developed at Kia´s ´Centre of Diesel Engineering Excellence´ at its R&D facility in Germany, the 1,120 cc diesel engine generates 75 ps (55.0 kW) of power at 4,000 rpm and 153 Nm (15.6 kgm) of torque from 1,900 to 2,750 rpm, making the Picanto one of the most powerful cars in its class. This engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission equipped with a unique set of gear ratios to suit the characteristics of the diesel engine.

Diesel Picanto will accelerate from 0-to-100 kph in 16.0 seconds and will reach a maximum speed of 162 kph. Fuel consumption on the combined cycle is just 4.2 l/100 km, so a range of 800 kilometres between fuel stops is possible. This Picanto is also one of the world´s cleanest, most efficient cars, with a CO2 rating of just 112 g/km.

The car is due for UK launch in November and will be offered in a choice of two equipment levels - LX and EX.