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November 8, 2008
All Up In Their Booth: Kia at SEMA
By John Coyle
Editor
So, like 15 minutes ago, Kia was more punchline than car company. And while there are probably plenty of people who still think that’s true, I’m not among them. Parent company Hyundai has proven it can build solid, reliable cars for years now—my little sister and Mom both love their Hyundais—which leads me to believe that Kia’s quality isn’t far behind. Also, it’s pretty clear Hyundai is positioning Kia to be the Scion of the family, because they’ve mandated that all Kia brass get neck tattoos and facial piercings. Kidding. Sorry. But from the set-up they had at SEMA—a skater, an artist custom painting Vans, a ton of custom parts—it’s clear the company is gunning for Toyota’s little brother. Don’t miss the video of the freestyler doing a burly spin—read: burly spin—and check out a bunch of pics from the booth after the jump.
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unloaditall
Nov 18, 2008 at 10:54 am
Forget about building another Xbox clone, and the black SUV looks like just another Trailblazer with fake stick-on vents and billet grills. The red coupe, however, has the kind of styling that can stand alone if left stock, or would look just as good if customized to the max.
The US automakers have big gaping holes in this category, and it’s one of the reasons that they’ve been losing young car buyers and slowly tanking. Sure, the Camaro is due out any day now and the Challenger and Mustang are probably good sellers, but what the Big 3 forget is that the muscle cars of the 60’s were affordable to young buyers, even if some of them couldn’t quite afford the top-of-the-line SS, GT or Hemi models. The sad truth is that most new muscle cars are being bought by adults. What’s American-made and affordable for younger buyers? Nothing that interests me, I’m afraid.
Anonymous
Nov 12, 2008 at 9:34 pm
all of them look like scions
Dhillaz
Nov 12, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I’ve always thought that Kias were better than Hyundai, or at least have more street cred.
I like the car at the bottom: though it looks like an Alfa Romeo Sypder crashed into the back of a Civic.
tripi
Nov 10, 2008 at 5:59 pm
1st one looks dreadful,wat is it a modern take on post man pats van,god if i ever c dat on da road…..
michael
Nov 10, 2008 at 3:16 pm
what is the last coup looks like a civic si
honda would have a shit fit if the produce that one lol
but all nice cars from kia
Senna_fan
Nov 9, 2008 at 3:59 pm
All nice concepts, I hope they actually produce these!!
Evan
Nov 9, 2008 at 2:59 pm
What’s the name of that little coupe thing! We have a Sportage and love it…… AIIEEEEE!!!!
William
Nov 8, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Agree with Don and as soon as you guys build it send it to Puerto Rico where the import car scene is getting krazyer by the day and kids are just looking for the next hot import to customize and take it to the streets. So Kia i aint got nothing else to say but…BUILD IT!!!
Don
Nov 8, 2008 at 5:18 am
the KIA KOUP, they had better make this a production car. Please KIA don’t be like other car companies who make Badass concepts then won’t produce them.
Just a little note: I’ll be shopping for a new 2dr sports coupe after college in a few yrs, and I would so buy it especially with the 300hp I4 Turbo engine..