To coincide with the unveiling of the all-new Kia Forte sedan at the LA Motor Show, Kia has revealed details of the version for other markets outside North America, the 2013-2014 Kia Cerato. This model is scheduled to go on sale during the first few months of 2013 at Kia dealerships in many countries around the world.
The all-new version of the Kia Cerato compact sedan, also known as Forte in some countries and as the K3 in Korea, has been revealed. It took long enough for Kia to get their own version of their parent company’s ground-breaking new Hyundai Elantra.
Kia Motors will introduce the next-generation Cerato compact sedan later this year in its home market of Korea under the name ‘K3’. Still to be known as the Cerato elsewhere, the original was Kia’s global best-seller in 2011.
We got a chance to briefly test-drive the 2011 Kia Cerato Koup at the Dubai dealership when we went in as potential customers. Oh my, from where to where the Kias have come – what a car the Cerato Koup is! For the first time ever, I found a vehicle that has its roots in Asia while having a pure European character – rivalling some of the European marques!
Say what you want about the Americans, but they are a serious bunch when it comes to safety. The U.S. government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — NHTSA — is the one that mandates airbags and tyre-pressure monitors in all new cars, subdued automakers into making their roof strength higher while inadvertently making outward visibility worse due to thicker pillars, and is set to force rear-view cameras on all new cars by 2014 thereby making car prices higher. And if that weren’t enough, there are not one, but two agencies in the U.S. that conduct crash tests, one being the NHTSA and other being the private Insurance Institute for Highway Safety —
The Kia Cerato hatchback is joining the Korean carmaker’s range for 2011. Technically similar to the 4-door sedan and 2-door Koup models, the new Cerato 5-door has the same overall width, height and wheelbase as the sedan, but the rear overhang is reduced by 190 mm, as is the overall length.
Korea’s fast-growing carmaker Kia Motors has announced just announced a growth in sales of 24.4% for August, compared to August last year. Posting growing sales numbers throughout the recession, the news is overshadowed by the fact that Kia’s Vice Chairman Jeong Sung Eun resigned to take responsibility for the recent recall of four models as the South Korean carmaker, to be replaced by new Vice Chairman Hyoung-Keun Lee. Those Koreans sure take their recalls personally.
While the all-new Kia Cerato has been available in Oman for many months now, Dubai-based dealers are preparing to launch the redesigned compact sedan as a 2010 model.
Kia Motors dealers in the UAE still haven’t gotten around to selling the 2010 Cerato compact sedan yet, but in its Korean home market where it is known as the Forte, Kia is already offering their first commercial hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), the Forte Liquid Petroleum Injection (LPI) Hybrid.