MOTORING
YOU probably have a better chance of sneaking into the dark dictatorship of North Korea than getting into Kia’s vast, topsecret research and development complex creating its next generation of cars bound for British showrooms.
But this week, I managed to do just that — as one of the first group of journalists to be granted access to the fast-growing firm’s highsecurity Namyang R&D facility and test track an hour’s drive south-west of South Korea’s capital, Seoul.
There I met its top executives and had a chance to put some of its newest cars through their paces before they arrive in Britain. They’ve even replicated UK road conditions on their test tracks — including all manner of potholes and ruts.
I was given a privileged peek into its ambitious plans to create sportier-looking, exciting cars that won’t break the bank.
Such was security that my smartphone and laptop were confiscated for the duration of the visit to avoid me taking sneaky photographs. But there’s still lots to share.
Kia has been expanding aggressively, and has shamelessly poached top European design and engineering talent to turn its once bland range into affordable and attractive cars.
Now it is putting its energy into ensuring the driving performance matches the good looks.
It’s launching five brand new models — including the £22,000 petrol-electric Niro, which goes on sale in Britain from August 8.
The five-door carries five people and their luggage in comfort with fuel economy of up to 74.3 mpg and CO2 emissions as low as 88g/ km. Five refreshed models, including the Rio and Picanto, are also on their way.
I also had a preview drive of two new cars set to reach UK forecourts soon: the sleek, loadlugging Optima Sportswagon estate and the ‘green’ hybrid Optima plug-in hybrid (PHEV).
Watch out for my road test verdicts in the coming weeks.
THE designer of the original ground- breaking Audi TT coupe has transformed the look of Kia in the decade since 2006.
Bavarian-born Peter Schreyer, who studied at the Royal College of Art, London, introduced a unifying grille resembling a tiger’s nose, while ditching earlier neutral looks in favour of sporty and contemporary European styling.
He told me: ‘We’ve got the looks right. With our next cars, we’ll have to top what we’ve done so far.’
ALBERT BIERMANN, 59, whom Kia recently poached from BMW to be its new chief engineer, told me: ‘It’s a clear target that the driving experience should match the sporty looks of our cars. We’re concentrating on the emotional side, the sporty side, the driving fun.
‘Kia is the wild guy. With sportier GT models we are adding more spice,’ says Mr Biermann (right).
‘They will work nicely in the UK with all its winding roads.’
THE biggest Kia dealership in Britain opens in September on the A4 Great West Road into London. Kia will be a visual landmark — and distraction — for thousands of motorists stuck in Heathrow or commuter traffic.
BRITAIN is Kia’s fourth-largest export market after China, the U.S. and Russia, accounting for a hefty 20 per cent of its European sales. Kia is on course to sell 100,000 cars a year in the UK by 2020.
THE top six Korean sellers in the UK last year were the Hyundai i10 (23,846), Kia Sportage (23,010), Hyundai i30 ( 17,392), Hyundai iX35 (14,338), Kia Picanto (14,275) and Hyundai i20 (14,228).
BMW is putting finance before driving fun and suffering from a culture of endless meetings and infighting, claimed Kia’s engineering boss Albert Biermann in an astonishing side swipe at his former employer of 35 years.
Giving his opinion of the changes at BMW, he said financial beancounters have the upper hand over engineers.
‘ The culture at BMW has changed. It’s not like it was ten to 15 years ago,’ he says.
‘It’s more financially driven. In the Eighties and Nineties, it was an engineering-driven company.’
By contrast today at BMW, he said: ‘You get tired of fighting, fighting, fighting.’