Car Evolution: Kia Pro

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Kia Pro_Ceed

Family expansion

The World Premiere of the new Kia pro_cee�d three-door hatchback, at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in Germany 11 September in production form, marks the latest expansion of the popular Kia cee�d family.

Longer, lower and lighter than its five-door hatchback sister car, the three-door pro_cee�d brings more style and more sportiness to the C-segment marketplace and is destined to broaden the appeal of the cee�d to a new group of European consumers and achieve thousands of �conquest� sales for the Kia brand.

�The new Kia pro_cee�d offers consumers sensationally stylish looks with a truly sporty feel to the driving experience, while also retaining most of the attributes of the popular cee�d five-door hatchback � including excellent practicality and versatility,� enthuses Jean-Charles Lievens, Senior Vice President Kia Motors Europe.

�With performance, ride and handling that is even more responsive than the five-door, the pro_cee�d will be available with the same wide choice of engines and specifications as its sister car. I think pro_cee�d is truly a great looking car and we know for certain that it will delight existing Kia customers and attract numerous European consumers who find three-door cars particularly attractive and who have not yet considered our brand.�

Despite its sporty appearance and lower roofline, the 4.25-metre long pro_cee�d has an unusually long wheelbase and will offer class-leading passenger and luggage space, plus highly competitive levels of equipment and state-of-the-art active and passive safety. Customers in Europe will be able to choose from a line-up of 19 pro_cee�d cars, with three equipment levels (LX, EX and TX), five engines, with manual or automatic transmissions, and an extensive range of optional equipment (depending on individual markets).

Kia cee�d family � exterior dimensions (mm)

	Length	Wheelbase	Width*	Height
Kia cee�d 5-door	4,235	2,650	1,790	1,480
Kia cee�d Sporty Wagon	4,470	2,650	1,790	1,525**
Kia pro_cee�d	4,250	2,650	1,790	1,450

*excluding door mirrors. **including roof rails

Distinctive styling with a cee�d family theme

Thanks to its early conception in the cee�d family creative process, the pro_cee�d has �stand-alone� good looks despite a large degree of commonality with other cee�d models, beneath the exterior skin.

�It is a completely resolved design, with only the bonnet and front wings carried over from the five-door, and features unique exterior panels to create its own distinctive style,� comments Gregory Guillaume, Kia Motors Europe Chief Designer. �We wanted to make pro_cee�d as �sporty� as a cee�d could possibly be, while still remaining a member of our cee�d family.�

Because the Kia cee�d family of three models was conceived simultaneously, the new pro_cee�d three-door hatchback has the same in-depth engineering integrity as the five-door hatchback and the wagon. A total of 15 mm longer than the five-door, the pro_cee�d has longer overhangs � by 10 mm at the front and 5 mm at the rear.

Although the pro_cee�d roofline is 30 mm lower than its hatchback sibling, the 2650 mm wheelbase is retained, so the cabin has most of the cee�d�s proven practicality and versatility, with generous legroom and shoulder room. The new roofline and sloping C-pillar design bring about a small reduction in headroom � down 30 mm in front and 40 mm in the rear, but two 1.70-metre adults can sit comfortably in the rear.

Kia cee�d family � interior dimensions (mm)

	Head room F/R	Leg room F/R	Shoulder room F/R
Kia cee�d 5-door	1,020 / 980	1,105 / 900	1,410 / 1,385
Kia cee�d Sporty wagon	1,020 / 995	1,105 / 900	1,410 / 1,385
Kia pro_cee�d	990 / 940	1,105 / 900	1,410 / 1,360

Luggage capacity is also generous for this type of vehicle, totaling 340 litres � loaded up to the bottom of the rear windows and including 55 litres of storage in moulded trays beneath the floor, fitted as standard � just like the hatchback and the Sporty Wagon. The total capacity with the rear seats folded is class-competitive and only slightly down on the five-door cee�d hatchback.

Kia cee�d family � luggage capacity (litres)

	Seats upright	Rear seats folded
Kia cee�d 5-door	340	1,300
Kia cee�d Sporty Wagon	534	1,664
Kia pro_cee�d	340	1,130

Three models introduce the �qualitative revolution�

The launch of the Kia cee�d family (five-door hatchback, five-door Sporty Wagon and three-door pro_cee�d) marks a major turning point in Kia�s history. The bringing of this trio to the marketplace is the start of a new era. They are the first-ever Kia cars designed and manufactured in Europe and are already introducing a qualitative revolution for the brand.

The highest standards of engineering and the European-style aesthetics have been applied to every aspect of the cee�d creative process? Such is the quality and durability of cars manufactured at the new purpose-built Kia factory at Zilina in Slovakia, which every cee�d sold in Europe is backed by a 7-Year/150,000 km warranty.

Source: Kia Motors