Ok Kia where's the diesel Picanto?

Its been two months since it made its debut at Frankfurt where Kia told the world about it, its dealers know all about it and in turn they have told all their customers about it. So where is it and what's the delay?

Your dealers are ready for it, your customers are ready for it and here in Picanto land, we are ready for it. So what are you waiting for Christmas??!!

Hmmmm...I may have just hit the nail on the head there as rumours are abound that the launch has been put back until December now. But nothing is coming from the Koreans about this so it may just be rumour. But what isn't rumour is that it's not here in the UK or even Europe for that matter.

What i will say though is that if the diesel engine is anything like the one that is in the new Kia Rio, then their onto a winner for sure. Although its only a 1.1 CRDi unit for the Picanto and 1.5 CRDi for its bigger brother, the power delivery is awesome. I have drove the new Kia Rio diesel and it's so quick and smooth that this car must have its rivals quaking in their boots. Honestly I am not biased when i say this, go and drive it for yourselves and for £7995 its a no brainer.

So come on Kia get your finger out and get this Picanto diesel out there amongst the masses where it belongs.

Categories: kia picanto diesel

Although not directly Picanto news, Kia are looking to expand its dealer network in 2006. Having added large dealer groups like Pendragon, Reg Vardy and Arnold Clark in 2005 to their growing portfolio of Kia car dealers. It is widely rumoured that Inchcape Retail may be in talks with Kia as well as the Lookers Group, although its still early days.

We find this interesting as the brand has always been of a high standard for sometime now and this interest from these large dealer groups just goes to show the gap in quality and reliability brands like Kia is closing rapidly on the so called prestige and volume manufacturers.

To further emphasis this point, in September alone, Kia took a 1.88% market share, led by sales of the Kia Picanto with 7,844 registrations (more than 16% up year-on-year). Total sales for the first nine months are 31,714 (nearly 25% higher than 2004).

Kia are confident of achieving 47,500 sales this year, up 7,500 on its original target for 2005. "With a target of 100,000 units in 2010 we can't afford to slow down," says Kia Motors (UK) managing director Paul Williams.

Categories: kia picanto

Just as we mentioned back in October, the new Kia Picanto SE + has been launched and replaces the outgoing SE.

Full specification details have been released as well as price and colours. The SE + starts from £7,595 on-the-road and is available in Galaxy Black, Liquid Silver, Cobalt Blue, Scarlet Red and Diamond Blue.

The full specification is available at Kia UK and models have started arriving at dealerships at time of going to press. However Kia have not stated whether the new SE + will be available with 1 yrs insurance for £1.

Categories: kia picanto

Well its finally happened, Kia is dropping the Glamour from its range in the UK.

The decision comes on the back of difficult sales conversions by its dealer network to sell them. Not that there has been a problem selling Picanto, on the contrary, the S, GS and LX are selling like hotcakes.

But from what I understand it's the bright pink badging putting customers off, sounds strange I know, but seriously I have it on good authority that is the reason.

I mean you'd think all the customer would do was just pull the badges off, but it just puts them off. So dealers have been pulling them off and re-badging them as sports due to the fact the Glamour comes with alloys and a really good spec.

I think there is always a tendency to overdo the marketing of car and try to push it into a certain area. Kia see the Picanto as a fun, young persons car but the reality of the situation is that it appeals to all ages. Nothing like customer power to keep the car makers on their toes and give them what they want.

I suppose at least they have listened to the customers and dealers in the end.

What took them so long?

Categories: kia picanto

A new Kia Picanto is to be introduced to the family in November/December 2005. Full details have yet to be released but the model will be called the SE +.

The main bullet points will be:

• It will be a 5-seat, M/T only model, priced from £7,695 OTR
  
• Based on the LX, the specification includes air conditioning, front fog
  lamps, a new leather and cloth trim, an extended metal grain dash and
  upgraded instrument meter surround trim
• Exterior changes include a new horizontal-style chrome grille and new
  design 14” alloy wheels
  
• It will be available in red, black, silver, cobalt blue and diamond blue
  
• Insurance Group Rating 3 (Same as LX and previous SE)
  

Looking forward to bringing you more details on that one.

Categories: kia picanto