Hyundai, Kia Posts Rising Sales in Europe

Hyundai and its affiliate Kia are enjoying growing sales in Europe, with their sales from January to November this year surpassing the total of last year's.

The carmakers on Wednesday said that their sales in the European market rose 10.7 percent in November on-year, leading the cumulative sales there in the first 11 months of the year to amounting to 788,000 cars compared to 778,000 cars sold in 2014.

But their combined market share fell by a small margin to 5.9 percent as the car market there is expanding amid low fuel prices.

Hyundai and Kia expect their market share to bounce back when new models of their popular cars such as the Sportage are released early next year.

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Nevada Grants Kia Motors Autonomous Driving License

Kia has taken another step forward into the future after it was granted a license by the US state of Nevada to test its autonomous driving technologies on public roads.

Along with sister company Hyundai, Kia plans to introduce a range of partially autonomous driving tech to its lineup by the end of the decade.

This will be the basis for its first fully-autonomous car, which will hit the market by 2030, and it will follow an initial stage of investment, made by Kia and Hyundai, which totals $2 billion, by 2018. The investment will allow the automakers to develop ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) technologies and to employ a larger number of engineers.

"Thanks to this license we will be able to accelerate the testing of our new autonomous driving technologies that are currently in the early stages of development, with particular emphasis on our alternative powertrain vehicles. We are confident that our latest innovations will ultimately make driving safer for all road users", said Hyundai Motor Group's VP of Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute, Dr. Tae-Won Lim.

The latest production vehicles made by Kia, including the Sportage, Sorento and Optima, will be offered with the new technologies that will join the suite of features already offered by the automaker. The ADAS-equipped models will be "as safe and efficient as possible" and they will make driving safer and easier.

The ADAS System will allow vehicles to drive by themselves and will comprise three different modes, including "Recognition", "Judgment" and "Control". The technology will be co-developed with other suppliers and affiliated companies and it "can be circumvented by direct driver control, enabling closer control of the car as desired", according to the automaker.

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2016 Kia Cerato Koup REVIEW | 1.6 Litre Turbo – A 'Zingy' Coupe

IT WEARS ‘CERATO’ ON ITS RUMP, BUT THE 2016 KIA CERATO KOUP IS MORE THAN MERELY A TWO-DOOR VERSION OF THE FOUR-DOOR SEDAN SHARING THAT BADGE.

Interior styling is, however, shared between coupe and sedan. But the Koup gets longer, frameless doors that are the sports car equivalent of long, sexy legs, while the rear-end boasts a shorter bootlid and racier horizontal tail-lights.

The Cerato Koup range starts from $24,190 plus on-road costs, but that’s for the underpowered 2.0 litre manual. It will cost $4000 more to buy the 1.6-litre turbo and another $2200 to option the six-speed automatic as tested here. That makes for a $30,490 (plus orc) coupe package.


OVERVIEW

The availability of an automatic transmission and sourcing from South Korea has saved the Kia Cerato Koup from extinction. Its blood-brother, the Kia pro_Cee’d GT, has just been killed off because it was manual-only and made in the Czech Republic.

We mention this because the pro_Cee’d GT has been hailed for its style and performance, where the Cerato Koup traditionally has not. And, so far this year (to November 2015) the pro-Cee’d has outsold the Koup, 371 sales versus 228 units, so clearly the cost for Kia Australia of sourcing from different factories is the bigger issue.

So is the Cerato Koup worth a look?

THE INTERIOR

• Standard equipment: power windows and mirrors, keyless auto-entry, multi-function trip computer, air-conditioning, leather/cloth seat trim, leather-wrapped steering wheel, cruise control, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, auto-on/off headlights
• Infotainment: 4.3-inch colour touchscreen with USB/AUX input, Bluetooth phone and audio streaming, AM/FM radio, CD player and six speakers
• Options fitted (if applicable): none
• Cargo volume: 433 litres

The Cerato Koup Turbo is lacking some items you may expect as standard fit for $30k, such as satellite navigation and dual-zone climate control air-conditioning. But these form part of a $2500 option package bundled with leather trim.

Adding nav also flicks the 4.0-inch touchscreen for a 7.0-inch unit that looks more upmarket, however adding the package takes the price to $32,990 (plus orc). By comparison, a Holden Astra GTC has a 7.0-inch screen with nav as standard for $29,190 (plus orc) and lacks none of the Kia’s other equipment.

The Cerato Koup feels its sub-$20k origins inside, particularly with the small centre screen of our test car.

Also, scratchy plastics, dowdy grey trim and faux carbon-fibre inserts simply don’t provide the ambience expected for a $30k-plus coupe.

Four people are generously accommodated for a compact coupe, however. The front seats are comfortable, but the real star is the rear seat with a supportive cushion and tilted backrest.

There is impressive legroom and headroom back there, and even air-vents – finally a coupe that thinks about rear passenger welfare!

The boot of the Cerato Koup is shallow (because a full-size 18-inch spare alloy resides beneath the floor), but it’s also deep, affording 433 litres of space.

Kia has masterfully managed to combine good looks on the outside with sedan-like space on the inside. If only it had the ambiance and equipment to match.

ON THE ROAD

• Engine output and configuration: 150kW/265Nm 1.6-litre 4cyl turbo petrol
• Transmission type and driveline configuration: six-speed automatic, FWD
• Suspension type, front and rear: MacPherson strut front, torsion beam rear
• Brake type, front and rear: ventilated front and rear disc brakes
• Steering type and turning circle: electrically assisted mechanical steering, 10.6m

Despite sharing a 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder engine and 18-inch alloy wheels, the Cerato Koup isn’t as sharp to drive as the pro_Cee’d GT.

The Koup has ordinary Nexen tyres and simple torsion-bar rear suspension, where the latter scored excellent Michelins and a sophisticated multi-link rear arrangement.

All is not lost, however, because this Kia is quite different in flavour to its defunct cousin. Think of the Cerato Koup as more of a fast, frenetic small sedan with two less doors, and it starts to make sense.

Throttle response is excellent and the turbo engine delivers punch anywhere in the rev range. The six-speed automatic is a superb match, slickly and decisively picking gear ratios and very responsive when using the standard paddleshifters in manual mode.

The Cerato Koup can be fast fun even around town; it's as adept at plugging traffic gaps and accelerating from the traffic lights as many more expensive cars. However, 'sling-shotting' the turbo comes at a penalty; we averaged 10.9 litres per 100 kilometres on test when the official combined cycle average is 8.0 l/100km.

On a twisty road, the story is also not quite so complimentary. It simply doesn’t have the grip and cornering finesse of a well-sorted ‘European’ (like, say, the Clio Sport or Holden Astra GTC) when you start looking for its outer limits.

There is simply more engine than chassis here.

That said, there’s still decent balance and a stability control system that will keep things from getting too pear-shaped should you give the Cerato Koup a bit of a fling.

The suspension also provides a reasonably absorbent ride, both for city and country driving. The sense of quality disintegrates somewhat over larger bumps, but generally it balances compliance and control reasonably well.

So, along with the roomy interior, it can play sensible two-door sedan where required.

The three-mode steering however – with comfort, normal and sports modes – is disappointing.

Even in the lightest setting, the steering feels resistant, yet it is always loose on centre. ‘Sport’ at least provides meaty weighting, but the response at the wheel is never as quick as a sporty coupe’s should be.

SAFETY

ANCAP rating: 5-Stars - this model scored 35.51 out of 37 possible points

Safety features: Six airbags including dual-front, front-side and full-length curtain, ABS and ESC, reverse-view camera, front and rear parking sensors

RIVALS TO CONSIDER

The recently relaunched Astra GTC offers swoopy styling and more equipment, but is slower than the Kia, while hometown rival Hyundai continues with its top-selling Veloster Turbo (one we like quite a lot) for a slight premium with one extra (side) door.

TMR VERDICT | OVERALL

The Kia Cerato Koup is not a honed drive and nor does it carry the premium feel that you might expect at this price.

However, re-adjust your expectations from the high watermark that was the pro_Cee’d GT and this two-door coupe appeals in other ways.

Not only is it roomy inside, but it also rides decently around town. The surplus of power and intelligent automatic means it is also fun, anywhere and at anytime. You don’t need a twisty road to play with to get your kicks at the wheel of the Koup.

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The Regular Guy Reviews: 2015 Kia Soul

There's a lot more to like about the Kia Soul than the company's dancing hamsters might lead you to believe. I found myself admiring what is, in essence, a very handy little box on wheels. Unlike the Scion xB and Nissan Cube – both of which over-do the quirky styling – the Soul manages to pull off a unique sporty van look without coming off as cold and robotic (I'm looking at you, Cube).

From its friendly, non-imposing front clip, the car's lines slope down toward the tail at somewhat of a rakish angle. From the side, if you squish your eyes shut just enough to make things blurry, it almost takes the shape of one of those 1920s phaetons that made so many appearances in black-and-white gangster movies. It's cartoonish – not in a bad way, but in a manner that seems calculated to draw in younger buyers.

Inside, the Millennial juices keep flowing. Color-shifting disco lights highlight simple, symmetrical interior's edges. The controls are well-placed and easy to use. Kia seems to understand that human beings prefer tactile knobs to display menu-activating electronic buttons. Getting the tunes going was easy – a nice touch for the dancing hamsters – but the disco lights in the cupholders had a tendency to reveal whatever grit and grime was there.

One of the best interior features was, unfortunately, the most expensive one: the panoramic sunroof. As with most cars nowadays, it's impossible to pick the options you want à la carte, so you can only get the sunroof along with electronic cruise control (which should probably be included in the base options), the premium audio system and the disco lights. But the roof itself is brilliant and adds openness and depth to an interior that's already cavernous by small car standards. It's too bad that the sunroof makes the car ineligible for roof rack mounts, but that's probably because putting weight on the sheet glass might break it.

Parked next to my compact-for-the-era 1987 Subaru wagon, the Soul looked short, but it packages space well. The back seat is accommodating and the cargo space is actually large enough to be useable. The rear seatbacks don't fold completely flat, which is a real shame. However, the space offered by the folded seats is generous.

The Soul's secret weapon is its peppiness. I wasn't expecting much from its 4-cylinder engine, but the "!" trim level I drove boasted 164 horsepower and 151 pound feet of torque. Whether that's powerful when compared with other sporty cars is immaterial. It felt powerful, or at least responsive enough to be pretty fun to drive. The handling was decent, too. Much better than I had expected from a utility box. Kia would do well to kick the whole formula up a notch and offer the 6-speed manual transmission that's only available in the 130-horsepower base model in the more powerful ! model, too. I doubt that will happen but we can dream, can't we?

Although the Soul ! isn't as inexpensive as I would have liked, it offered a lot of useable space and fun driving characteristics for the money.


By the numbers: 2015 Kia Soul

MSRP: $26,715 (as tested, includes $800 destination charge)

Power and drive wheels: 2-liter, 164-horsepower 4-cylinder; front-wheel drive

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

EPA fuel economy: 23/31 city/highway mpg

Safety: IIHS Top Safety Pick; 5-star government crash test rating

In showrooms: Now


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Kia Proceed GT review - value and fun from Kia's appealing hot hatch

What is it?

The entire Ceed and Proceed range was updated recently, with new 1-litre, three-cylinder direct-injection ‘ecoTurbo’ petrol engines with either 98 or 118bhp for low-end models and revisions to the diesel engines. A dual-clutch gearbox is also now available for the 134bhp 1.6-litre CRDI diesel model.

More exciting though is the top-of-the-range GT model you see here, which has also been run through the mid-life model refresh programme. We ran the previous Proceed GT on our long-term fleet for twelve months and rated it highly – can the new model improve on an already impressive product?

Engine, transmission and 0-62mph time

It uses the same 1.6-litre turbocharged 201bhp four-cylinder engine as before, but gains a new turbo that increases air pressure and lowers the peak torque rpm by 250rpm and increases the engine’s eagerness to rev. The open diff remains, while the suspension and wheel and tyre sizes are unchanged (although there is a new design for the 18-inch alloys). But the brakes are bigger, and brake-based torque vectoring is new.

The new turbo and revised mapping trims a tenth off the 0-62mph time (now 7.3sec) and the larger brakes improve the 62-0mph stopping distance by 1.2 metres.

Technical highlights

Inside there’s a new, flat-bottomed steering wheel and extra chrome trim. Oh, and there’s a new switchable sound generator, which gives the car a decent, growlier tone.

All mild changes, granted, but ones that remind us that this is a fine car. The Kia GT is a great ownership proposition, too. It’s well engineered and comes with Kia’s seven-year warranty. And if the extremely hard miles our long-termer endured are anything to go by, the new car should prove pretty much indestructible.

What’s it like to drive?

Dynamically it has no vices and still steers, stops and handles with the smooth consistency that we enjoyed in the old car – which saw it score highly in a test against its hot hatchback rivals in evo 207. The changes may be small, but they’ve enhanced an already well-sorted package.

Yes, a limited-slip diff would give the nose a little more bite, and yes, ultimate grip is a little lower than in the more focused hatches, but the lack of an ‘I’ at the end of ‘GT’ tells you everything you need to know. Ultimately, this is an honest car, and it’s becoming increasingly hard to say that about modern vehicles.

Don’t ignore the GT if you’re after a warm hatch. In terms of performance, ride and handling it’s competitive, and is arguably the best looking car in its class.
Rivals and price

With 201bhp the Proceed GT sits in limbo between hot hatchbacks of its size, which with a few exceptions now boast north of 250bhp, and hot hatchbacks in the class below which sit around the 200bhp mark but carry less weight.

The Kia sits somewhere between the two classes in price too, at £23,605. For reference, a Volkswagen Polo GTI starts at £18,900, and a Golf GTI is £27,135. It’s closer to the Golf on price then, but probably closer dynamically too.

Other close rivals include the £22,495 Ford Focus ST – a car that lost out to the Kia in our group test, though undoubtedly great value for its 247bhp output – and the newly-introduced Mini Cooper S Clubman. The latter is a quirky choice and its looks are an aquired taste, but it offers 189bhp, it’s a little more grown-up than smaller Minis, and costs a reasonable £22,755.

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Kia and Hyundai get licence to test driverless cars in Nevada

Kia Motors is the latest company to get a license from Nevada to test driverless autos.

Kia, along with sister company Hyundai, plans to test partial and totally autonomous driving technologies with the goal of having its first driverless car on the market by 2030. Kia and Hyundai are investing $2 billion US in their new Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and expect their first vehicles to have partially-autonomous driving technology to be available by 2020.

Meanwhile, Google is in talks with the British government over the possibility of bringing driverless cars to the United Kingdom. According to records obtained by the Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act, Britain’s Department of Transport has met with Google five times over the past two years, with the US company seeing the UK as a key market for its driverless cars.

Google’s cars have chalked up more than one million miles of driving on public roads in tests in the US. The cars have ‘lidar’’ sensor technology to detect pedestrians and other traffic. While early lidar sensors cost upwards of $100,000 Cdn and more, researchers have developed technology to considerably reduce their cost, size and power consumption.

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The 2016 Honda Odyssey vs. the 2016 Kia Sedona

There are two reasons to buy a car: for practical purposes and passionate pursuits. Sure, there can sometimes be a hybrid of the two (think Dodge Charger Hellcat), but nobody buys a minivan for a passionate pursuit. The 2016 Honda Odyssey and 2016 Kia Sedona, though, could succeed in making you more passionate about minivans.

Typically, you purchase these minivans for practical reasons because you’re either hauling a family or you’re an older buyer who likes their practicality, seating position, and roominess. Just because they’re practical, doesn’t mean manufacturers haven’t been busy dressing them up and loading them with options.

In spite of their sagging popularity—now that Boomers are past the child-rearing stage—minivans are still a relevant part of the marketplace. Through Dec. 1, Honda sold almost 116,000 Odysseys. Kia has sold about 35,500 Sedonas in the same time period. That represents about 8 percent of Honda sales and 6 percent of Kia sales.

I’ve recently spent time driving both the Sedona and the Odyssey. Consider the Sedona the upstart and the Odyssey the grand dame of minivans. Which is going to be your preference? The numbers help tell the story.

The 2016 Honda Odyssey is a lower, wider vehicle than the 2016 Kia Sedona by an inch or two in various places. The Sedona has an inch more wheelbase space.

Both minivans have good, tested engines under the hood. The 3.5-liter, Honda V6 has 248 horsepower while the 3.3-liter V6 in the Sedona produces 260 horsepower. It’s a toss-up when it comes to acceleration because both have similar torque numbers: the Odyssey at 250 lb. ft. and the Sedona at 248 lb. ft. Neither is going to blister through its 0-60 times but both have lots of pep for highway on-ramps and any passing situation. Both can comfortably cruise forever at 75 mph.

When it comes to driving, though, the Sedona wins hands down. It feels more engaging and responsive. It was my feeling on an extended drive during its media introduction and after a week behind the wheel that this is a vehicle I like driving. After a week behind the wheel of the Odyssey, however, it felt like just basic transportation.

The Odyssey is much better at 19 mpg city and a whopping 28 mpg highway for a combined 22 mpg. The Sedona’s fuel economy numbers are hard to overcome from a practical perspective.

When it comes to safety, consider this a tie between the two. All Sedonas and Odysseys are equipped with standard safety features such as a vehicle full of airbags, electronic stability control, traction control system, brake assist system, hill-start assist control, electronic brake force distribution, and antilock braking system. The Sedona does have additional technologies such as rollover mitigation and cornering brake control for improved dynamic control.

Exterior design is a subjective issue. The Sedona to my eye is the more appealing. It’s more of a head-turner. The Odyssey continues to look dowdy to me.

On the interior, the HondaVac is a great feature. The dry vacuum system has a hose that can reach the length of the interior. It works better than a handheld vacuum. Two separate head attachments expand versatility, while a removable debris canister and replaceable filter bag make maintaining the vacuum easy.

The Sedona offers standard second-row Slide-N-Stow seating. It slides and folds upright to allow for on-the-go cargo hauling along with a standard third-row, split-folding 60/40 bench that retracts seamlessly into the rear cargo floor. (It’s really simple to use, and I don’t follow directions well.)

Pricing is going to be fairly comparable between the two models, depending on your wants and needs. I drove the top-of-the-line Sedona SXL, which is priced at $44,690 with all the bells and whistles. The middle-of-the-line Sedona EX costs $33,595. The 2016 Honda Odyssey SE costs $34,255. Consider it the middle of the Odyssey pack. The top Odyssey has a price of $45,630.

Honda Odyssey SE

THE BASICS

Price, base (with destination): $34,255. Fuel economy: 19 city/28 highway/22 combined. Drivetrain: 3.5-liter, V6. Body: Minivan.

THE SPECIFICS

Horsepower: 248 @ 5,700 rpm. Torque: 250 @ 4,800 rpm. Overall length: 202.9 in. Wheelbase: 118.1 in. Height: 68.4 in. Width: 79.2 in. Curb weight: 4,528 lbs.

THE GOOD

Fuel economy numbers are strong for the Odyssey.

THE BAD

The Odyssey isn’t a very engaging minivan to drive. It plods along like the Point A to Point B vehicle that it’s supposed to be.

Kia Sedona SXL

THE BASICS

Price, base (with destination): $40,795. Fuel economy: 17 city/22 highway/19 combined. Drivetrain: 3.3-liter, V6. Body: Minivan.

THE SPECIFICS

Horsepower: 276 @ 6,000 rpm. Torque: 248 @ 5,200 rpm. Overall length: 201.4 in. Wheelbase: 120.5 in. Height: 69.1 in. Width: 78.1 in. Curb weight: 4,656 lbs.

THE GOOD

The Kia Sedona wins the passionate contest. It’s a much better looking minivan inside and out.

THE BAD

Fuel economy is disappointing at a combined 19 mpg. That’s not a good number for a family watching its budget.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Minivans mean different things to different people. Want a little zing in your drive? The Sedona is the better choice.