Kia’s greatest hits

01 Kia Elan

After Lotus ended production of the Elan in 1995, it sold the tooling and production rights to Kia. Around 1,000 Kia Elans were then sold in South Korea and Japan, with the engine a twin-cam 1.8-litre 4cyl making 149bhp.

02 Kia EV6

The all-electric EV6 is essentially the sister car to Hyundai’s retro Ioniq 5, but Kia has gone with swoopier styling and an über fancy rear lightbar to create a sportier coupe-like crossover.

03 Kia Stinger

The swoopy sports saloon for those who want to avoid the obvious (and don’t really want a saloon). GT S gets a 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 that sends 365bhp and 376lb ft to the rear wheels, and 0–62mph in 5.1secs is not to be sniffed at.

04 Kia Cee’d Reasonably Priced Car

Ah, the old C-E-E-apostrophe-D. Kia’s sensible hatch played host to a whole heap of celebrities at the TG test track between Series 15 and 19 of the telly show. Who’d have thought Tom Cruise would ever drive a Cee’d?

05 Kia Optima GTS

Kia entered the US-based World Challenge with a FWD Optima saloon. The engine block and head were standard, but Kia extracted 368bhp from the 2.0-litre 4cyl, with a six-speed Xtrac box that cost more than a road-going Optima.

06 Kia Soul EV

The über boxy Soul shouldn’t really work as an EV, but this funky third-gen crossover is essentially an e-Niro with a more interesting body plonked on top. Costs about the same as a top-spec Mini Electric but with a more useful 280-mile range.

07 Kia HabaNiro

Unveiled at the 2019 New York Motor Show, the brilliantly named HabaNiro concept previewed the styling of the new second-gen Niro. We wish the production version looked like this, though. The HabaNiro even got butterfly doors.

08 Kia KM410

Kia’s military vehicles department makes a whole load of different cars and trucks for the South Korean army, with the most interesting being the KM410. That’s the name it gives to the Korean iteration of the Fifties Willys MD.

09 Kia Pride

Another badge-engineered special, the Kia Pride launched in the UK in 1991 but was essentially a rebadged version of the Mazda 121 and the Ford Festiva. Engines included either a 1.1- or 1.3-litre four-cylinder.