Kia goes driveaway

KIA is the latest brand to pass on the federal government’s five per cent import duty reduction for passenger cars from 2010, by announcing driveaway prices across its Cerato sedan and Rondo7 and Grand Carnival people-mover model ranges.

While prices of other models in the Kia range remain unchanged, buyers will now pay no more than $18,990 to own Kia’s base Cerato Si manual small sedan, representing a significant saving over its previous list price of $19,990, plus on-road costs.

While the base Cerato Si manual sedan is effectively about $4000 more affordable, the top-spec Cerato SLi manual sedan continues to cost $23,190 plus statutory and dealer delivery charges.

Similarly, the small Rondo7 LX people-mover’s $24,990 list price is now a driveaway price, while prices for the mid-range Rondo7 EX automatic ($29,990) and flagship Rondo7 EX-L auto, which each increased by $1000 in December, are unchanged.

Finally, the entry-level pricetag for Kia’s full-size Grand Carnival people-mover has fallen from $39,390 plus on-road costs (for the 3.8-litre petrol V6-powered EXE auto) to $$38,990 driveaway.

Left: Kia Sorento. Below: Kia Cerato Koup.

The Grand Carnival 3.8 Premium auto remains unchanged at $45,390, as do the 3.8 Platinum auto ($51,390), the 2.9 EXE diesel auto ($41,990), the 2.9 Premium auto ($47,990) and the 2.9 Platinum auto ($53,990).

Meantime, Kia Motors has just reported it increased global sales in 2009 by some 20.1 per cent, with 1,651,920 vehicles sold worldwide last year.

China (256,732 vehicles), Korea (412,752), North America (346,181) and Western Europe (242,288) were the biggest-moving markets for Kia in 2009, recording sales increases of no less than 69.9, 30.4, 11.3 and 7.7 per cent respectively.

Kia China posted a 107 per cent sales increase month-on-month in December, when it was also up 69.1 per cent in Korea, 45.5 per cent in the US and 40.6 per cent in Europe.

Korea’s oldest car-maker’s top-selling export model was the Cerato (known as Spectra or Forte in some markets), which found 304,295 new homes last year – easily outselling the Rio (177,299 sales) and Sportage (172,296).

“2009 was another stellar year for Kia Motors as we turned the global economic downturn into an opportunity to raise market share in all regions, while winning the hearts of many new customers with our exciting new line-up of stylish, fuel efficient vehicles that offer unsurpassed value for money,” said Kia Motors Corporation president Hyoung-Keun Lee.

“We are excited about continuing this momentum in 2010 with the ongoing introduction of next generation Kia vehicles while continuing to raise the profile of the Kia brand through exciting marketing activities like the sponsorship of this year's FIFA World Cup South Africa,” he said.