Contra Cadenza

There's no word yet on whether Kia will build the Cadenza in right-hand drive, but one milestone is fast approaching.

Jonathan Fletcher, Kia Australia's National Public Relations Manager, informed the Carsales Network earlier today that he is awaiting a response from his counterpart in Britain on the subject of whether the UK market will lobby for a right-hand drive version of the Cadenza. Without the Brits placing their weight behind a push for right-hook Cadenza, the Aussie market has no chance at all of seeing the car here.

"The UK needs to take the lead on that," Fletcher advised. "If the UK decides that they want to take it, then obviously there's a stronger push for right-hand drive. But if Australia was to stick up its hand and say 'yeah, we'll take 300' or whatever, then we might be a lone voice in the wind.

"Even if it was available in right-hand drive, we'd need to do some very, very serious analysis about whether it was viable to introduce it here, given the number of players who exist in that same sort of size [segment] already, with brand plates that are associated with that size of vehicle, with a car parc out there associated with that sort of vehicle. You could spend a lot of money trying to establish a beachhead for the vehicle -- and sell next to no cars."

Fletcher intimates that the chances of the UK market adopting the Cadenza are low.

"There's a new Magentis next year, which would probably be about as big as the UK would want to go -- particularly when you think of the Euro competitors, for a start, that they'd have in that kind of segment. Cadenza's probably... about the same size as a 5 Series BMW."

So brand image is a challenge once Kia starts campaigning in that market echelon. It's Fletcher's view that, for the present, the Kia brand is hamstrung by the resale values for its product range, but those resales apply to older models, rather than the improved product that has been reaching the market recently -- vehicles such as the new Cerato and Sorento.

"I think we need to strengthen our brand and build on the new Kia product that we have, to change people's perceptions from 'okay, this is the new product, but my perception of Kia is the old product'... That needs to translate through into resale values..."

Fletcher believes that improving resale values would help the brand image -- and that could aid Kia's advance into non-traditional market segments. But if the Cadenza -- named for an Italian musical term translated as 'flourish' -- were to come to Australia and flop, that would set the company's efforts to boost the brand image back a step. So Kia's caution regarding the Cadenza is understandable.

The Cadenza is due to make its debut at the Riyadh Motor Show in Saudi Arabia next month and Kia has released the Middle East specification details for the new car. In that market, it will be powered by a 3.5-litre V6 developing 213kW and 338Nm of torque. Fuel consumption and emissions are rated at 9.36L/100km and 223g/km, respectively.

The engine will drive to the front wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission and the car is built on the same platform as the Hyundai Grandeur's. For other markets, the company plans to offer the Cadenza with lower-output engines too, but all variants will come with the same transmission.

Underpinnings for the Cadenza comprise MacPherson struts at the front, multi-link IRS at the rear, hydraulically-assisted rack and pinion steering, 300x28mm ventilated disc brakes in front and 284x10mm solid discs behind. Depending on the level of trim (two available for Middle East markets), the Cadenza will come with 16-inch or 17-inch alloy wheels and either 215/65 R16 tyres for the former or 225/55 R17 tyres for the latter.

In length, the Cadenza measures just under five metres and the car also boasts a respectable aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.29Cd. Standard features for the Middle East will include a floating dash, mood lighting, dual-zone climate control, reverse parking sensors and keyless entry/start.

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