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Kia Australia this week launched their most affordable electric SUV in theform of the EV3, mimicking their midsize EV5 and larger EV9 models. TheEV3 in three front wheel drive grades Air, Earth and GT-line, the Air with achoice of standard and long-range batteries, the Earth and GT-Line onlylong range. Priced from $47,600 and ranging to $63,950 the EV3 claimed tooffer a driving range from 436km to 604km depending on model. Kiaconfirming a comprehensive range of active and passive safety technologywhich its Product Planning Manager suggests, may be frustrating to livewith but adding if customers want a five-star ANCAP safety rated vehicle,these elements must be included under regulatory protocols. They can beturned off each time you start the vehicle but they must default on tosatisfy regulations. I’m David BerthonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Driving Kia’s Carnival people-mover – the high-grade 2.2-litre turbo diesel 8-speed automatic GT-Line at $73,060 plus on-road costs. A spacious three-row 8-seater, and as a large family carrier nothing comes close. Kia Australia hastweaked the suspension on the latest series, with modified front springs,upgraded shock absorbers and recalibrated power steering, and it makes theCarnival shrink around you, behind the wheel feeling much smaller than it reallyis aided by an excellent 360-degree camera and front, side and rear sensors.148kW of power, 440Nm of torque gives it gutsy low down pulling power althoughas a front driver it can get some torque steer pull through the steering wheelunder heavy acceleration. And it’s a shame in some ways it doesn’t have all-wheel drive. Economy, Kia claims 6.5L/100km which I got close too and with a 72-litre fuel tank the range it offers is impressive. Whether full laden or just with adriver the suspension tune is compliant with great ride on any surface. With threeavailable drive modes a really pleasant vehicle behind the wheel apart from theoverzealous lane keep assist, driver attention monitor and speed sign recognitionwhich is simply over-reactive. Warranty 7-years unlimited km. Servicing $1,519over three years. I’m David BerthonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kia Australia’s CEO Damien Meredith recent comments on the slowdown ofelectric car sales is interesting. Suggesting the car industry has hit the limit whenit comes to early adopters of EVs and that with New Vehicle Emission Standardsdue next year it will be a struggle to sell more hybrid and electric cars to offsetsales of high emission vehicles and avoid government fines. The Governmentsnew CO2 rules take effect from January 1 while the penalties take effect from July1 and will force car brands to hit CO2 emission targets on each vehicle they sell.As Meredith said this week regarding the EV slowdown ‘it’s a tough situation,we’ve got to sell more EV’s, we’ve got to basically sell, in percentage terms,double what we’re doing at the moment to meet our requirement for the newemission rules.’ Watch this space. I’m David BerthonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Driving the facelifted 2.2-litre turbo diesel Kia Sorrento GT-line all-wheel-driveSUV today – the best-selling variant – at $72,690 drive-away able to travel nearly1000km on a full tank and I averaged 7.1 L/100 with mainly around town driving.The Sorento a seven-seater but like most large SUV's best as a five-seater withabove average luggage space. Access to the third row in seven seaters alwaysdifficult and the Sorento is no exception. The 2.2-litre turbo diesel has averagepower and torque and drives through an 8-speed dual clutch automatic withmanual shift paddles – importantly. it doesn't sound like a trusty diesel but issmooth, quiet and refined. The Sorrento GT-line's high point is suspension tune –Kia Australia always does its homework with local ride and handling tune and it'sjust so polished whether fully laden with luggage or just with a driver. Thesteering now also further refined, the drive experience overall simply first class.Towing somewhat limited however at a max 2000 kilos braked. It has all the latestdriving assist modes and safety elements apart from the curtain airbags notextending to the third-row seats. It gets a full-size spare wheel while servicingcosts over three years $1308, over five years $2427. I'm David BerthonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kia has finally launched its mid-sized EV5 SUV after it was delayed at the last minute due to some wheel and software updates. Very much a clone of the larger and highly awarded EV9 the EV5 arrives in three model grades, firstly as the Air and Earth models and followed in December by the GT-line. The standard range EV5 Air with a claimed range of 400Km is priced at $56,770 drive-away while the mid-grade EV5 Earth sells from $68,990 drive-away. The flagship all-wheel-drive GT line will sell from $75,990 drive-away. Kia Australia has undertaken extensive suspension tuning on the EV5 which is the Korean car company's first model to be built in China for the local market utilising a lithium iron phosphate battery developed by BYD. Kia targeting an annual sales rate of 10,000 units for the electric SUV. I'm David BerthonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Driving the facelifted the 2.2-litre turbo diesel Kia Sorrento GT-line all-wheel-driveSUV today – the best-selling variant – at $72,690 drive-away able to travel nearly1000km on a full tank and I averaged 7.1 L/100 with mainly around town driving.The Sorento a seven-seater but like most large SUV's best as a five-seater withabove average luggage space. Access to the third row in seven seaters alwaysdifficult and the Sorento is no exception. The 2.2-litre turbo diesel has averagepower and torque and drives through an 8-speed dual clutch automatic withmanual shift paddles – importantly. it doesn't sound like a trusty diesel but issmooth, quiet and refined. The Sorrento GT-line's high point is suspension tune –Kia Australia always does its homework with local ride and handling tune and it'sjust so polished whether fully laden with luggage or just with a driver. Thesteering now also further refined, the drive experience overall simply first class.Towing somewhat limited however at a max 2000 kilos braked. It has all the latestdriving assist modes and safety elements apart from the curtain airbags notextending to the third-row seats. It gets a full-size spare wheel while servicingcosts over three years $1308, over five years $2427. I'm David BerthonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Chief Operating Officer of Kia Australia says both individuals and some dealers have been flipping, or reselling, Kia EVs for profits of up to $20 000. It comes as the supply of EVs is still constrained, petrol prices soar, and demand for electric cars skyrockets.
“Never in my wildest dreams”: Kia Australia's Damien Meredith amazed by huge interest in EV6 and speed of electric shift.
Some big moments from the weekend in sport
Hello and welcome to Overdrive a program that looks at cars and transport from a variety of angles. The times each story appears in the program are noted (mm:ss) I’m David Brown News 1. Kia Australia enters the electrified market (1:27) 2. Audi Q5 - Comfort at a price (2:32) 3. National Safety week (3:34) 4. Combining data sets for a comprehensive road management program (4:28) 5. A very successful transport Institute turns 30. (5:29) Interviews • Last week we lamented that all the talk of the Federal Budget was about the size of the spending and not about how effective the spending will be. This week we again here from Michael Caltabiano the CEO of the major transport research organisation the ARRB about how he is working to ensure we make smart decisions. (6:41) Motoring Minute • Audi Q2 (21:44) Interview • And Brian Smith talks about a necessary although uncomfortable discussion point to do with transport in India (22:51) Motoring Minute • Audi SQ5 (28:02) You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0ah6JZN8LTYURIfNs1IIBs iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/overdrive-cars-transport-and-culture/id1001084679 Our Facebook page OverdriveCity https://www.facebook.com/OverdriveCityDrivenMedia/?modal=admin_todo_tour or Our YouTube site https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKyx5sv6cgF4URRmNq2JiXg/videos So, let’s start with the news Originally broadcast 22 May 2021
Damien Meredith is the Chief Operating Officer for Kia Australia. He is a down to earth bloke that knows that his first task is to sell cars now, which will then provide the foundation for future developments. In the full year of 2019 when the market declined by 7.8%, Kia did what no other top ten manufacturer did, it increased its sales over 2018 volumes. It is not all wonder and light. The increase was due to a 16.5% increase in Kia's Cerato. All their other models decreased, although the reduction was mostly better than average. Part of the decline may have been some cannibalising of existing model sales by their new Seltos small SUV that they bought onto the market in mid-October and by the end of the year it had sold over 2,000 vehicles. Towards the end of 2020, they will bring in an even smaller SUV, the Stonic. We caught up with Damien, in a bit of a noisy area at the Australian Open Tennis tournament for which Kia is the major sponsoring partner.
During this episode of CarAdvice Paul Maric and Trent Nikolic give you the tips on towing a caravan, while Jez Spinks sits down with the man responsible for Kia Australia's ride and handling work. Plus, the 2019 Toyota Corolla facelift.
Another enormous edition of Behind the Wheel… There’s been news from Porsche - their Mission E Electric Concept Car finally has been confirmed as a production car & it has a name. There's a new 911 Speedster concept too, Chris Jordan from Porsche will call in with all the details. Kia has unveiled an electric car called the Niro in Seoul. With a range of 400km +, wrapped in a body that looks like the current day Sportage, there's a lot to be excited about. Kevin Hepworth, Marketing Manager from Kia Australia has all the details for us. Joel Helmes has been driving an enormous van. More enormous than you could ever imagine. You'll need to tune in to find out how big. Simon has had the keys to the Alfa Romeo Guilia. It hasn't broken down once, and apparently its really nice. We'll find out why he thinks it's so good. Pete will really take you around the block in the latest Range Rover Evoque. It's genuine this week after all of last weeks promises! And Chris & Pete will debate the value of the 7 seat offering from NIssan - the latest Pathfinder. Rachel Franco wants to chat mobile phones & cars. She's stern, but still Rachel, so it makes for an interesting discussion. Belt up - it's on again for another week!
A really big show on the cards this week. We’re headed to China for the Beijing Motor Show. Joel Helmes was the guest of our mates at Haval and he brings news of lots of weird and wonderful cars, and he has a few surprises in store. Simon Lai has been racing around in an often overlooked sports car - the Nissan 370Z, we'll bring you all the details. We've got details on a few new Volkswagen's too, including the all-new and very svelte Arteon. The cheapest ever VW Golf GTi, the Original, and we've discovered a new bench mark in the small car class, the all-new VW Polo - even in base model form it's a cracker. Rachel Franco returns with more madness - she's keen to share stories on cars that have been given a name. For example, she had a Barina with a gender crisis called Barry. You can imagine how this will pan out! Kevin Hepworth, from Kia Australia, joins us with details on a refreshed version of Australia’s best selling people mover, the Carnival. We'll take you for a drive in the very beautiful new BMW 630GT, and have lots of laughs along the way. Join us for another week of Behind the Wheel.
In this episode:- MUSK WATCH: Bob Lutz suggests buying a Tesla "while they're still available", which is code for "before they go bust".- We recap the Dakar Rally.- Matt Campbell went to Melbourne to see some tennis, but instead bumped into senior people from Kia Australia. So he asked them some questions about the future.- Mercedes-Benz is going to stop selling diesel passenger cars in the United States. What does it mean for Australia?- Range Rover is going to reveal a coupe SUV at this year's Geneva motor show. Is Jaguar Land Rover suffering from a bit of an internal SUV civil war?- This week James drove a Porsche, Matt drove a Volkswagen and Tom drove a Volvo. You'll have to listen to find out what they thought of them.James Cleary, Matt Campbell and Tom White tear down, pressure test and rebuild the issues of the automotive week.You can get in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter (#CGPodcast) and Instagram, or which side the Jaguar/Land Rover SUV war you're siding with by emailing comments@carsguide.com.au.
Kia has launched their latest Picanto compact car only a year after they introduced the first model onto the Australian market. The first model was good but not of the most up to date design. It had been on sale in other markets for about four years. At the launch of the new car Damien Meredith the Chief operating officer for Kia Australia explains the business reasons for dipping their toe in the water 12 months ago with an older product. They have redesigned the latest model both inside and out although the power train (not its strongest point) remains the same. They have produced a more distinctive, more masculine style (their words not mine). But to keep the price down there are no mag wheels. Infotainment with connectivity are some of the buzz words of modern cars and the Picanto joins the fray with a 7 inch screen and Apple and Android smartphone integration. This means you can use the cleverness of your phone with voice commands and maps for example, while driving. They have worked hard on reducing noise levels in the cabin with things like sound proofing, a better engine cover and lowering the windscreen wipers when not in use to reduce wind noise. It's better but a course grained bitumen road is still quite noticeable but consistent for this class of vehicle. It still has the 1.25 litre petrol engine with a scanty 62 Kw and the automatic is still the meagre four speed variety. Sufficient for urban situations perhaps but not grand touring in the country. It is doing well over 3000 revs at 100 km/hr. This time they have provided an entry level manual gearbox – 5 speed. The clutch and gear level movement are very light which makes it easy to drive but for the purists it is a bit like a computer game consul rather than the traditional feeling of working with a mechanical device. They reckon 10-20% of sales will be manuals but I wonder why it will be this high because they have a funny pricing structure. The manual has a recommended retail price of $14,190. Add on road costs and it has to be at least $15,500. Automatics usually cost about $2,000 more but the Picanto automatic is $15,690 drive away no more to pay. Damien Meredith gave a very clear hint that if you do want a manual you should bargain with the dealer. $13,990 drive away might be an offer worth making but that's not official. As far as the drive train goes they do have torque vectoring which is a first in this class. This technology helps the wheels get grip on the road especially when starting out and it can help handling. It doesn't have Automatic Emergency Breaking which is not surprising for this category except that it will become a mandatory feature to get a five-star safety rating in 2018. Kia have put in a passionate request for this to head office. Originally aired on 6 May 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au