Picanto News: Picanto Diesel Not Coming To The UK?

Recent information from one of our readers suggests that the Picanto Diesel is no longer coming to the UK.

Although we have not had this confirmed by Kia, it would appear that the reason is due to the high costs of converting the car to RHD (right hand drive). What!!

As one of our readers points out in his comments: "So much for customer wants, economy and global warming."

A similar situation arose at VW back in the 80's when converting the Polo to RHD, but they came up with a work-around and the rest is history.

Based on the information we have received, the issue seems to be purely down to cost. If it's any consolation to Kia, we believe the Picanto diesel would be well recieved in the UK, just as it has in Europe. So surely the added cost of a workaround would pay dividends in the end. Besides, isn't Kia supposed to be a global manufacturer?

There's always a risk involved when manufacturing any product, with no real guarantee that it will sell. But given Kia's recent sales success, UK diesel sales on the rise and the Picanto picking up various awards, there's enough evidence to suggest the car would sell well in the UK.

In the end we guess it's just another car and people won't camp outside the Kia UK head offices demanding the car be built (now there's a thought). Ultimately consumers just go out and buy something else. Over to you Kia!

Thank you to Alan for the heads up.

Picanto News: New Style Picanto Grille

We have been receiving a fair few emails and also attracting a few comments asking whether the new style grille, that comes standard on the Picanto SE +, is available as an accessory.

So we have done a little research into this and asked a couple of dealers about availability and price. Unfortunately we didn't get a lot of response but SG Petch Kia did come back to us and sent us some pictures to post on the blog, so thanks for that!

From what we have been told it's not an 'official or approved' Kia accessory, meaning Kia have not got round to providing a glossy picture of it in its accessory catalogue and put a markup on the price, but it is available as a replacement part. Therefor it can be fitted to any of the Picanto models, which is great news.

We asked if the part could be self fitted and were told if your competent with a spanner and screw driver then absolutely, although they added it's not a straight forward process, as the part is pushed into the bumper and is held on with some clips at the rear. So it may be a good idea to contact your dealer for more advice on this.

The cost of the part is £40.14 inclusive of V.A.T, which seems good value bearing in mind if it becomes an accessory, the price will certainly go up.

SG Petch will supply the part for £34.03 + V.A.T and £27.50 + V.A.T. for fitting and have provided us with a link for those that want more information.

Picanto News: Picanto Picks Up Second Award Of 2006

In the latest Auto Express awards, the Kia Picanto picked up its second title of 2006 winning the Used Car Honours 2006 Small Car category.

Having previously been voted top in Parkers Price Guide Residual Values Survey in February, this award goes a long way to proving definitively that buying a Picanto can only be a smart move in the value stakes.

This honour comes on the back of recent news that despite an expected year of consolidation by the Korean giants, Kia dealers throughout Europe, including the UK, delivered a total of 65,179 units, to record a solid 3% gain over 2005. Pretty impressive considering the shortage of product and older models being phased out.

Naturally the Picanto remained the best seller at (19,566 units) led from Sorento (10,721), Sportage (9,468), Rio (8,301) and Cerato (5,473) – to complete Kia’s Top 5 sellers table for the quarter. So the future's looking bright, especially with a new Sedona, Magentis and a revised Sorento due to hit the showrooms shortly.

The Auto Express Used Car Honours 2006 are based on depreciation, whole life costs, reliability, practicality, market sentiment, road test reports and driver feedback.

Picanto News: Picanto Date

Kia will be launching a new limited edition Picanto in June called the 'Date'.

The model is planned as Kia launch a Drive Dating PR promotion in conjunction with Metro newspapers next week.

Metro readers can apply to take part in the Drive Dating events which will take place in June. Normal speed dating rules apply, each couple gets 3 minutes to find out about each other, the difference being that they'll be sat in the front seats of a Picanto!

Metro newspapers are published in major metropolitan centres throughout the UK. As part of the promotion, there will be a competition to win a Picanto 'Date' prize car.

The Picanto Date is planned as a special version GS model featuring air conditioning and will be on-sale later in the Summer. No prices have been set as of yet and full specification will be published when we get the information.

The Metro press cutting will be posted onto the PR section of the dealer marketing website on the 5th April.