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PEPPY PICANTO IS HOT STUFFFriday 14 May 2004
The all-new Kia Picanto offers a winning combination of youthful styling, peppy performance, class-leading interior dimensions, low cost of ownership and ultra-low emissions, in an unrivalled value package. This is a car with the dimensions to excel in the cut and thrust of the High Street but with the interior feel, refinement and space of a supermini.
The fresh styling of the Picanto expresses Kia’s desire to become a ‘young, sporty and friendly’ brand. Picanto fits into the UK’s vibrant small urban car category as well as meeting the needs of the lower end of the supermini market. The car will especially appeal to existing supermini customers not wishing to "up-size" to the latest generation of supermini offerings.
Paul Williams, Managing Director, Kia Motors UK said: "Kia has shown with the Sorento and Sedona that it can bring products to market which challenge the very best available in terms of value, specification, quality and styling. The Picanto will meet the needs of a new and younger customer base for Kia and take the brand to new heights in the UK. The Picanto is a modern European-focussed design, that offers an involving driving experience coupled with high specifications and prices not previously seen for this style of car.
The Picanto design excels by combining a stylish but compact exterior with a spacious interior more reminiscent of a supermini. The interior achieves ‘best-in-Class’ space in most major cabin dimensions. The generous specification, high quality materials, fit and finish reinforce the impression this car will comfortably meet the aspirations of those down-sizing from larger cars as well as those trading up from boxy, slim but tall, city cars and/or budget superminis with "low rent" interiors.
The set-up of the Picanto has concentrated on making it able to compete effectively in urban driving with a willing engine, smooth gear change and excellent all-round visibility. Add this to precise steering and pin-point manoeuvrability and the Picanto driver can be confident about taking advantage of that small gap in the traffic or that parking space that other drivers tend to overlook.
Whilst on the open-road the refinement of the car at motorway speeds will surprise those getting out of larger capacity cars and the suspension, assisted by the fitting of standard 14-inch wheels, is more composed than many cars offering a much longer wheelbase. All-in-all it is a more comprehensive package than was previously expected in this size of car, making those forays to the High Street something to look forward to and that journey to friends 200 miles away something that doesn’t need a second thought.
The Picanto is available as both a four-seater and a five-seater, with a choice of two petrol engines and manual or automatic transmission (1.1-litre only). A 1.1-litre diesel engine will be introduced in 2005.
The Picanto’s fuel economy and excellent CO2 figures, just 118 g/km on the 1.0-litre five seater and 119 g/km on the 1.1-litre 4-seater, reflect Kia’s push towards leaner, greener vehicles. The 1.0-litre has an urban cycle fuel consumption of 47.9 mpg while the 1.1-litre 4-seater has a combined fuel consumption of 57.6 mpg.
International recognition
Picanto was launched last month in left hand drive markets and is already meeting with critical acclaim. Picanto convincingly won a group test in Auto Bild magazine (30 April) with testers praising the engine, suspension, seating and overall quality of the car as well an excellent emergency braking performance that was equated with a "Golf size" car.
Europe is expected to account for 50% of the total Picanto production.
Customer profile
The Picanto has had more extensive market research than any previous Kia model to be launched on the UK market.
Ian Mathews, Head of Product fo
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