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Kia & MADD – “I Pledge”

Kia is working with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to engage with teenagers to discourage drunk driving by initiating the “I Pledge” campaign. The “I Pledge” campaign takes place across Canada and visits schools to educate students about the dangers of impaired driving.

This was not the first time MADD and Kia teamed up together. In the past, they came up with a memorial tattoo advertisement which stated, “The consequences stay with you forever. If you drink, don’t drive.”

Now, Kia and MADD are taking their campaign to the next level by visiting young students in person to teach them about the consequences of drunk driving.

Kia is playing its part by donating its vehicles to sponsor the 2011-2012 School Assembly Program. The cars will be used by MADD representatives to promote safe and sober driving at schools across the country.

Each vehicle is customized with Kia and MADD logos and provides space for people to sign their names to pledge their support.

Not living in Canada? You can still participate in the campaign! Check out the Kia Canada Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/kiacanada#!/kiacanada) and visit the “I Pledge” Facebook tab. Just click on the “Take the Pledge” button and participate to raise awareness about dangers of drunk driving. You can also read other people’s stories about drunk driving and share your own.

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Soul is top-selling Kia car

The boxy Kia Soul is still funky-looking and still has dancing hamsters in its award-winning television ads.

But for 2012, the youthful Soul is restyled for a more high-tech look, has more powerful, yet more fuel-efficient engines, new six-speed transmissions and more features, including an infotainment system with voice recognition. Kia even offers 18-inch wheels now.

This model year, the five-door Soul also adds Idle Stop and Go (ISG), which automatically turns off the engine when the car is at idle, such as at a stoplight, and then automatically restarts the engine when the driver’s pressure on the brake pedal lets up. The ISG, which is commonly found on gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, helps conserve fuel.

What’s not changed: The front-wheel drive Soul hatchback retains its industry-leading warranty coverage, which includes 10 years/100,000 miles for powertrain and five years/60,000 miles for limited, basic car coverage.

And it still comes standard with lots of safety equipment, such as traction control and electronic stability control, six air bags and antilock brakes.

Best of all, the Soul, which is a recommended buy of Consumer Reports magazine, remains priced below many competitors.

Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, is $14,650 for the base Soul with 138-horsepower, 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine and six-speed manual transmission.

But the lowest retail price for a 2012 Soul with automatic is $1,800 more, or $16,450.

The 2012 Soul is offered with a larger, 164-horsepower, 2-liter four cylinder with a starting MSRP, including destination charge, of $17,050.

Competitors include the boxy-styled, Nissan cube, which has a starting retail price of $15,500 as a 2011 model with 122-horsepower, 1.8-liter four cylinder and six-speed manual transmission. The competing 2012 Scion xB has a starting retail price of $17,030 with 158-horsepower, 2.4-liter four cylinder and manual transmission.

Note that the federal government’s top fuel economy ratings of 27 miles per gallon in city driving and 35 mpg on the highway for the 2012 Soul with base engine are better than the fuel ratings for the cube and xB. For example, the 2012 xB’s mileage rating is 22/28 mpg.

The Soul has become Kia’s top-selling car, with sales topping 92,600 through the first 11 months of this year. This is up 52 percent from the same period a year ago.

No doubt buyers are attracted by the Soul’s value for the price.

Standard equipment on all models includes ample cargo space, Sirius XM satellite radio (buyers must subscribe to keep this satellite radio beyond the complimentary tryout period), dual-level glovebox, air conditioning, power door locks, outside mirrors and windows, as well as USB/auxiliary jacks.

The test Soul, a Plus model with the larger four cylinder and six-speed automatic transmission included Plus standard features like keyless entry, Bluetooth phone connectivity, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, audio controls on the steering wheel, two powerpoint outlets and metal-look interior trim — all for $18,050.

At just 13.5 feet long from bumper to bumper, the test Soul fit easily into compact parking spaces and handled nimbly in tight spots.

But inside, the feeling was anything but tight. The 5.3-foot-tall Soul provides 40.2 inches of headroom in the front seat and 39.6 inches in the back seat, so even tall riders don’t feel constrained. This is akin to the headroom inside a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox sport utility vehicle.

This ample headroom isn’t achieved by forcing riders to sit low to the pavement. Rather, it’s the product of a roofline that doesn’t slope much until it’s behind the back seats. In the test Soul, passengers had good views out of the vehicle and to the traffic ahead, though we still couldn’t see over or beyond big pickup trucks or vans.

Be aware, though, that three adults in the back seat sit close to each other, even if the generous 39 inches of rear-seat legroom meant no one’s knees touched the front seatbacks.

Note that rear seatbacks are split 60/40 and fold down to extend the 19.3 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats to an SUV-like 53.4 cubic feet. It wasn’t difficult to load items inside since the flat cargo floor was at thigh level on me and the rear bumper was not obtrusive.

The uplevel, 2-liter, double overhead cam, four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing provided commendable power, even with the Soul’s cargo area filled with suitcases and shopping bags.

I did hear the four-cylinder buzziness at times when pressing the car to accelerate on uphill road sections. But the engine response and power delivery was pleasing, not at all lagging. Torque peaks at 148 foot-pounds at 4,800 rpm, and the Soul weighs less than 3,000 pounds and can feel sprightly on the roads.

Without trying at all, I averaged 29.1 mpg, which is just over the combined city/highway mileage that the federal government estimates in combined city/highway travel.

The tester did not include the automatic engine shutdown and restarting feature. Note that Kia engineers add a more durable starter and alternator with this feature to ensure those stop/starts don’t require earlier starter and alternator replacements.

Fit and finish on the test Soul was excellent, and fabric seats were comfortable in summer heat and pleasant looking. But, I could have used some additional lumbar support in the Soul’s front passenger seat when I sat there over a three-hour trip.

Consumer Reports puts the predicted reliability of the Soul at average.

 

Courtesy of The Associated Press

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Kia To Launch South Korea's First Mass Produced Electric Car In 2013

SEOUL -(Dow Jones)- Kia Motors Corp. (000270.SE) said Thursday it plans to launch South Korea's first mass produced all-electric car next year, until now a gap in the offerings by the country's fast-growing car makers.

Korea's car makers make hybrid cars internationally, but they lag behind U.S. car giant General Motors Co. (GM) and Japan'sToyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO), while domestically, the country has been slow to build the infrastructure or provide the subsidies that would support the industry.

Hyundai Motor Co. (005380.SE), which together with Kia forms the world's fifth-largest carmaker by sales, currently produces the BlueOn pure-electric car only for government agencies under a pilot program, but Kia plans to sell the Ray all-electric car to customers from 2013.

Kia Motors, which is 34% owned by Hyundai Motor, said Thursday it will roll out 2,500 units of the Ray pure-electric mini car next year for fleet use by government agencies first. The Kia Ray EV can travel up to 139 kilometers on a single charge and speed up to 130 kilometers per hour, the company said in a statement. Hyundai Motor established production lines this year to build 250 mini BlueOn models for fleet use by public offices.

Also Thursday, the government said it will offer a tax support of up to KRW4.2 million($3,630) per vehicle for consumers who buy the Ray and the SM3 ZE all- electric car Renault Samsung Motors Corp (RSG.YY), the South Korean unit of France'sRenault S.A. (RNO.FR), to be launched in 2013.

But analysts and industry participants said it won't be enough. Kia said in a statement, that "more than anything else, the infrastructure including charging stations should be established first." Currently, the country has 500 charge stations and the government plans to increase the number to 3,100 by the end of 2012, Kia said in a statement.

A Renault Samsung spokesman said Thursday that there should be government subsidies as well as tax benefits to encourage electric car sales.

Analysts also questioned whether the government, or state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp, would have the will to embark on what would be an expensive build- out of a nationwide cable network for charging stations.

Hyundai Motor Group has seen sales growth globally surge in recent years, due to robust demand for sedan models Sonata and Elantra in both the U.S. and emerging markets. It expects global sales of 6.55 million vehicles this year and plans to sell 7 million in 2012, Kia President Lee Sam-ung told Dow Jones Newswires early this month.

But Kia and Hyundai are also behind in producing electric cars internationally. GM has the Volt, Toyota the Prius hybrid car, Japan'sNissan Motor Co. (7201.TO) sells the all-electric Leaf, and France's Renault, the all- electric Fluence ZE.

Hyundai and Kia launched hybrid versions of the Sonata and Optima sedan each this year in the U.S. where Toyota's Prius accounts for about 50% of the hybrid car segment. Hybrid electric cars are different from all-electric or pure- electric cars because they use gasoline on top of batteries.

-By Kyong-Ae Choi, Dow Jones Newswires; 822-3700-1903; kyong-ae.choi@ dowjones.com

Courtesy of Dow Jones Newswires

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Leaked Look? 2013 Kia Forte Sedan Sketches Emerge

Sketches that have leaked online purport to provide an early look at the 2013 Kia Forte. According to Kia World, the sketches show a redesign for the Forte sedan that will be officially revealed sometime in 2012.

The leaked photo reveals a Forte sedan that is much more rounded and modern than the current model. In the profile sketch, the Kia appears to have a sloping roofline similar to the Hyundai Elantra, and is vaguely reminiscent of the Kia Ray concept from 2010. The front grille, headlights, and taillights are all in tune with the latest Kia designs, like those seen on the Optima sedan.

The current Forte sedan was launched in 2009; the car also is available as a two-door coupe and four-door hatchback. Regardless of body style, power comes either from a 156-hp 2.0-liter inline-four, or a 173-hp 2.4-liter inline-four engine.

The Kia Forte is currently built on the same platform that underpinned the prior-generation (through model-year 2010) Hyundai Elantra, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Forte once again adopted the Elantra’s underpinnings. If so, it could mean a bump in the Forte’s fuel economy ratings. The new Elantra uses a 148-hp, 1.8-liter inline-four engine that returns 29/40 mpg (city/highway) whether mated to a manual or automatic transmission.

We reached out to Kia to see whether a 2013 Forte is indeed on the way, but did not receive a response before deadline. If a Forte makeover is nigh, we imagine it will debut at a major auto show some time in the next six months.

Courtesy of Motortrend.com