UK: Kia aims to increase sales with new Rio, Picanto and Soul CUV

[ahmed_7erzon]

Kia Motors UK plans to introduce new Rio, Soul CUV and Picanto mini-car to increase its sales!

Kia Motors announced aims to increase its yearly sales from 56.000 units – achieved in 2010 to as much as 70.000 units in the next 24 months. To achieve the 70.000 units sales mark, the fastest growing South Korean carmaker plans to introduce a number of stylish vehicles with great fuel economy to the consumers in the UK.

The all-new Kia Picanto is just around the corner. With its fresh new styling and improved safety, the new Picanto is expected to retain as one of the top selling Kia cars in Britain. Kia aims to sell 6.500 units of Picanto this year and increase its sales to 15.000 units when the three-door and five-door Picanto are available. The carmaker also wants to grab a 10 percent share of the city car segment in 2012.


Following the new Picanto city car will be the all-new Rio hatchback, which is scheduled to go on sale in the UK in September this year. According to Michael Cole, the 2012 Rio will be the main volume booster. “Historically the car has been a little bland and has not done too well for Kia but the all-new car is much more dynamic and “European” therefore I hope it will do for us in the B segment what cee’d did in the C segment,” said Michael Cole, Kia UK managing director.



Before the end of 2011 Kia will also introduce a mid-size Optima sedan with 1,7L diesel engine mated to six-speed manual or automatic transmission. Kia does not expect large volume sales for the new Optima D-segment car – certainly not to Ford Mondeo or Vauxhall Insignia levels. “New Optima is a model that will showcase what Kia can do and I believe it will sell quite well,” commented Michael Cole.

In autmun this year, Kia also plans to put on sale a refreshed Soul crossover vehicle. The 2012 Model Year Kia Soul has been unveiled at the New York Auto Show in April and brings a number of styling updates and technical enhancements to the Soul lineup. Kia will release more technical details about its updated Soul towards the end of the year.