Rob Maetzig

Twin-tests a pair of Kias that point to product we’re going to get in the future – hopefully.

We’ve just been driving two interesting new vehicles from Kia. One can only be purchased on indent order, while the other isn’t even on sale in New Zealand – yet.

But they do combine to illustrate the strength of the Korean motor industry, and how today it is capable of filling just about every conceivable motoring niche with product that really is world-class.

Take one of these Kias, a vehicle called Niro, as an outstanding example.

I’ve always felt that one of the downsides of petrol-electric hybrids is that many of them look like hybrids. Product such as the Toyota Prius and more recently the Hyundai Ioniq is great, but their looks are different in a techie-electric futuristic sort of way. The only current hybrid model that I can think of that looks just like a conventional car is the Toyota Camry – but it’s a sedan, and these days we keep getting told that sedans are passe.

But now there’s this Niro. Kia New Zealand has a couple of them in the country, and they are doing the rounds of people such as motoring journalists as the company works to build a business case that would allow the vehicle to be sold here.

The Korean-built Niro is primarily intended for the European market, you see, so apparently some sort of special dispensation is required from Kia to allow it to be imported to New Zealand for public sale.

I hope the Niro does come here, not the least because to all intents and purposes it looks and feels like a normal car even though it is a hybrid, built on a speciallydeveloped dedicated hybrid platform.

Powering the vehicle is a 1.6-litre petrol engine that is