Kia will celebrate the world premiere of an enhanced Kia Rio at the 2014 Paris Motor Show on 2 October, featuring a number of improvements to maintain the competitiveness of its global best-selling car.
[ads id=”4″ style=”float:left;padding:9px;”]“The Kia Rio was our best-selling vehicle nameplate worldwide in 2013, with a total of 471,000 sales, and among our top-three sellers here in Europe with 56,821 units delivered. Improvements to this model are of major significance for our brand,” commented Michael Cole, Chief Operating Officer, Kia Motors Europe.
“The immense popularity of the Rio shows that our designers and engineers got most things ‘right’ when creating the fourth-generation of our compact B-segment challenger in 2011. The Rio retains the core attributes that have proved so popular with owners, while enhancements to the 2014 model include a slight visual makeover, giving it a fresh exterior and interior look,” added Cole.
Under the direction of Peter Schreyer, President and Chief Design Officer of Kia Motors Corporation and Hyundai Motor Group, the Rio design team in Korea has updated the Rio’s ‘tiger-nose grille’ and given the car a newly-designed front bumper and fog lights. Three new alloy wheel designs (available in 15-, 16- and 17-inch) refresh the Rio’s profile and a new rear bumper completes the exterior makeover. In addition, two new paint finishes (Urban Blue and Digital Yellow) will be added to the colour line-up.
The Rio’s cabin is brightened by the addition of chrome accents around the four dashboard air-vents, and the fitting of a newly-designed centre-stack around the audio system. Range-topping EX models have a new cloth trim as standard, while Kia is introducing the option of grey faux leather upholstery on this model.
New optional features for the 2015 Kia Rio will include a new DAB digital radio and a new generation of Kia’s AVN (audio-video navigation) system with a 7.0-inch display screen, improved processing speed and faster route calculation (availability of system depends on individual markets).
Depending on individual markets, the enhanced Rio will be offered in Europe with a choice of up to four highly efficient engines – ranging in power output from 75 to 109 ps – driving the front wheels via five- or six-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions.
Every engine in the enhanced Rio range is available with Kia’s optional second-generation fuel-stretching Start/Stop (ISG) technology (automatic start-stop, advanced alternator control and an upgraded starter motor, as well as the fitment of low-rolling resistance tyres).
The Kia Rio hatchback is manufactured for Europe at Kia’s Sohari plant in Korea. The enhanced Kia Rio is expected to go on sale across Europe early in 2015, with country-by-country availability to be decided locally.
