2012 Kia Rio 3-Door

Premieres for new Kia Rio three-door and refreshed Kia Soul

While the all-new Kia Rio five-door hatchback is generating positive media coverage around the world and arriving in dealer showrooms across Europe this month, Kia is celebrating the world premiere of its new Rio three-door model at the Frankfurt Show.

Designed primarily for the European market, the new Rio three-door will expand the appeal of Kia's latest B-segment model to attract a new group of consumers to the brand for the first time – boosting conquest sales after its introduction during the first quarter of 2012. Últimately, Kia expects the Rio three-door to account for approximately 20 to 25 per cent of total Rio sales.

Rio three-door has the same key dimensions as the five-door model (length 4,045 mm, width 1,720 mm, height 1,455 mm and wheelbase 2,570 mm) and retains the same roofline that is one of the lowest in Kia's European product range, emphasising its purposeful, sporty stance.

In most European markets, Rio three-door will be available with the same range of powertrains, equipment and options as the five-door. The new model will offer customers a choice of four highly efficient three- and four-cylinder engines – with a 75 to 109 ps power range.

The fastest Rio three-door will accelerate to 100 kph (62 mph) in 11.5 seconds and be able to reach a top speed of 183 kph (114 mph). Fuel consumption will be as low as 3.2 litres per 100 km (88.2 mpg) for the newly-introduced EcoDynamics diesel model, which will also deliver an industry-leading CO2 rating of just 85 g/km.

To maximise the impact of the new Rio three-door´s striking appearance, Kia will be offering customers a choice of up to 10 body colours – White, Black, Bright Silver, Signal Red, Fresh Beige, Electronic Blue, Deep Blue, Wendy Brown, Graphite and Caramel Yellow – which help to underline the car's refined and stylish character.

With two bodystyles for new Rio, plus the already-popular five-door Soul and Venga B-segment models, Kia is confident of capturing an even larger share of the increasingly popular compact car market in Europe.

Popular Soul enjoys a major make-over

Completely refreshed, the latest Kia Soul being shown for the first time to a European audience at the Frankfurt Show will offer consumers a more refined appearance, new powertrains, a higher specification, a more premium feel to the cabin and even greater potential for personalisation.

Styling improvements for the new model give Soul a wider, more stable appearance and more refined proportions thanks to an extended nose (by 15 mm) taking its overall length up to 4,120 mm. The front air intake is wider and larger fog lamps are also given a more prominent design. At the rear, the black bumper inset panel is extended, moving the fog lamps out towards the extremities of the car. As standard, new more powerful twin-bulb headlamps with black bezels and twin-bulb daylight running lights (DRL) are fitted, while LED light clusters will be an option front and rear.



Inside, the cabin benefits from a revised centre console, circular-type LCD heater controls, a wider choice of new interior fabrics (Tartan Check, Houndstooth and Leather) and the availability of a Supervision (high definition) instrument cluster as an option. For greater durability key touch-points in the cabin are coated in a nano-layered, multi-metal paint. The steering wheel has both tilt and telescopic adjustment to ensure a comfortable driving position for all drivers.

A number of significant technical updates for refreshed Soul, include the introduction of a new 140 ps 1.6-litre GDI Gamma gasoline engine and the continued availability of the popular 128 ps 1.6-litre Ú2 CRDi diesel engine. The gasoline engine delivers 166 Nm of torque at 4,850 rpm, the diesel generates 260 Nm at just 1,900 rpm.

In most European markets, both engines will be offered with a choice of new six-speed manual or automatic transmissions – bringing the latest Soul's specification in line with the rest of Kia's modern product range.

The optional EcoDynamics pack, which features ISG (start/stop) and AMS (alternator management), will cut tailpipe emissions of the refreshed Soul to just 125 g/km and 139 g/km for diesel and gasoline models, respectively.

Kia has sold more than 45,000 Soul cars in Europe since its launch in early 2009 and expects the refreshed model to continue to appeal to thousands of consumers as a popular, bold alternative to conventional B-segment vehicles.

Source - Kia