Picanto News: SE + Arrives At Dealerships

After some delay the Picanto SE + finally arrived at dealerships around the UK.

Sporting the new grille which is unique to this model, the SE + arrives at a time when Picanto sales are at an all time high.

Having seen the new grille in the flesh, with its chrome horizontal bars, it certainly changes the front profile of the car and we can see this becoming standard across the range. It brings the front end more in line with the Rio, Sportage and Carens.

The interior looked luxurious too, with leather and cloth seats and a metal grain interior trim. New 14" inch alloys were of a subtle design and at £7,695 on the road, looks a little bargain compared to what else is available for a similar price. The dealership where the photograph was taken had already sold their allocation of SE + and so let's hope Kia can get more out there.

We also asked about the diesel and got a shrug of the shoulders, so fingers crossed it arrives in time for the new registration on March 1st. Somehow we doubt it!

Picanto News: Why Doesn't Kia Offer A Small Diesel Automatic?

As a blog that's dedicated to the Picanto and also one that we feel tries to represent the opinions of not just the manufacturer, but also of its readers, we actively encourge participation.

Today we are going to publish a short email sent in by one of our readers who asks the question: Why is it not one manufacturer can produce an affordable small diesel automatic?

Lee Onslow's last car was a Citroen ZX Diesel Auto (remember those?) and says that if Kia were to produce an automatic transmission in its diesel engined Picanto, he'd be queing at the door. Hey Lee we'd be just happy with the diesel Picanto in any form at the moment :-)

Here's his post in full.

Can anyone please tell me as to why not one manufacturer can produce an affordable small diesel automatic?

All small diesels (Punto, Mazda 2, Colt, C3 and Smart) purporting to be automatics have infact automated manual transmissions?

It would appear to me that manufactures are playing safe and pandering to emissions rather than giving the customer a choice! I'd rather have a smooth gear changing 'slush box' than a series of automated manual changes thank you very much.

My last small (!) diesel automatic was a Citroen ZX. Since its demise, the only small auto's now available are petrol's - which I hate due to their poor fuel returns, higher (than diesel) emissions, weedy engines with no torque.

Now if only Kia were brave enough to slot in an auto box with this promising diesel engine, I'd be queuing at their door.

Thank you Lee for the post and readers feel free to comment.

Picanto News: Kia Picanto Is Best Value Car In The UK

Savvy Kia owners prove they know a thing or two when it comes to buying cars as research shows that no car in the UK offers better value than the Kia Picanto.

According to Parker's Car Price Guide's investigation into car depreciation, the Picanto lost less than any other car in the UK during 2005 with a year's ownership costing an average of just £1,091.

The Kia Picanto's depreciation was £210 less than the Mini One/Cooper Hatchback, £342 less than the popular Honda Jazz, and £800 less than the premium Audi A2.

Paul Williams, Managing Director, Kia Motors confirms: "The Picanto is our number one best-seller and it's not hard to see why it retains so much of its value. It offers unrivalled specification wrapped up in stylish looks and is ideal for the first time buyer or as a second family run-around.

"Contrary to past perceptions it's not just the Picanto that provides strong savings. Over the last couple of years we have set about modernising and expanding our range and in doing so have strengthened our used car prices. Take our large 4x4 Sorento. Buyers retain 73% of the value compared to 62% on a Jeep Grand Cherokee and that's before you start to compare prices."

2005 results published by CAP* state that the Kia Sedona, Magentis, Carens and Cerato all hold more than 60% of their value and Sportage looks on track to match this as it celebrates its first birthday at the end of the month.

Although this is great news for Kia and the Picanto, it doesn't suprise us at all, as we frequently publish articles on the strength of this cars residual value against the competion. See Picanto v Ka and Picanto v Swift

Picanto News: New Model Picanto On Its Way

Towards the end of April, Kia UK will add a new volume model Picanto to the range. Priced at £6,595, mid way between the regular 1.0 GS (£6,195) and the 1.1 LX (£6,995), the new model will target the likes of Citroen's C1, Peugeot's 107 and Toyota's Aygo 3 door models.

Further details will be published nearer the time of launch.

Picanto News: Kia Set Record Sales In 2005

Well it looks to have been a great finish to the year for Kia Motors with record sales in 2005.

And of course who should lead the way? You guessed it, the little Kia Picanto. With 85,921 units sold, up an impressive 49% over 2004, the Picanto has been central to Kia's sales strategy given that the model was only launched several years ago.

On announcing a 22.6% year-on-year increase (811,676 units) from January through December of last year, Kia said it exported 840,056 vehicles, which is a 10.5% rise over the same period of last year. And while other so called "well established" brands reported a decline in sales during December, Europe became Kia's biggest market with sales totalling 27,739 vehicles.

For the year, 319,611 Kia vehicles were sold in Europe, that's an incredible 45.7% year-on-year increase, almost half their sales again! But it was not just in Europe where Kia excelled, as 303,880 vehicles were sold in North America, a 2.5% year-on-year increase, and 188,185 cars were sold in the general market, 28.6% year-on-year increase.

Although it's great news for Kia, it's not all good news for the UK dealer. A lack of certain product, due to this huge demand, continue's to frustrate the network as they have ready made customers for the product. And as we constantly report, delays on Picanto SE+ and the diesel in the showrooms are effected by this global success.

Throughout 2005, 417,920 passenger cars were sold in overseas markets, with the A-segment Picanto leading the pack (117,939 units sold). Meanwhile, 329,990 recreational vehicles were sold overseas, with the award-winning Sorento SUV accounting for 117,827 of the total.

Oh happy days!

Picanto News: '3D' Takes Picanto To Whole New Dimension

Scouring around the net today we came across some great 3 dimensional shots of the Picanto.

Available from The3dStudio, a website dedicated to providing 3 dimensional images from cars and guns to humans and parts of the anatomy (yuk!).

The thing we like about these images are the way they show off the Picanto's beautiful lines. You get to see the car at all angles and appreciate how well formed it is. This really is a cute little car and these images go a long way to showing that off.

Manufacturers make a lot of effort when trying to show 360 shots of cars, both externally and internally, but the imagery sometimes leave's a lot to be desired and Kia would do well to get these images on their site.

Picanto News: Here's to 2006

Looking forward to 2006 which should be an interesting year for Kia and the Picanto.

Top of our wish list is for the diesel version of Picanto to reach the UK as early as possible. It was already promised in 2005 but that has not materialised yet along with the SE +, so Kia need to get their fingers out and make that happen.

Its also sad to read that Kia UK were forced to put up their diesel Rio prices due to overwhelming demand. The company expected to sell 2,500 units this year – and globally the new car has been the focus of amazing demand. With worldwide demand running far ahead of global production levels, all markets will receive less than half of the planned original volume.

That means Kia’s plan to sell 15,000 units in the UK in 2006 has been cut to 6,000 units and that has forced the company to abandon its plan to sell diesel and petrol-engined versions at the same price.

This could also be affecting the diesel Picanto as well and maybe that's why we have not been blessed with its presence here in the UK.

Never mind as were sure it will all get sorted in the end. So here's to a prosperous and successful new year and all the best to our readers and sponsors in 2006.