Kia Rio socks it to them

Geneva International Motor Show

Kia's Rio is larger and more fuel efficient than before, but it's the eye-catching style that will draw the punters.

The latest iteration of the corporate look that also incorporates some of the essential quirkiness of the Soul small car was revealed to the world's motoring press overnight in Geneva. According to Kia's Benny Oeyen, European Vice-President Marketing and Product Planning, the new Rio will pull in a lot of new-car buyers with its styling.

"The Kia Rio has always been successful, and with this new incarnation we have a car which is extremely attractive with a fresh feeling of sportiness -- a car that people will want to buy for its looks, as well as its environmental credentials," said Oeyen, pictured here in suit and tie during the unveiling of the new model.

European buyers will be limited to two body styles, three- and five-door hatches, but Kia in Australia will also sell the car as a four-door sedan model. We'll see the five-door here first, due in the third quarter of this year, with the sedan following late in 2011 and the three-door model scheduled for early 2012.

The Rio is larger than the car it succeeds in every dimension other than height. Overall length and wheelbase have been extended by 20mm and 70mm respectively, with the Rio widened by 25mm and lowered 15mm. Stretching the wheelbase of the new car is apparent in photos, which clearly indicate the (relatively) shorter overhangs. Running against the trend to pack more height into a smaller footprint to maximise interior space, the Rio still boasts adult levels of rear-seat headroom, based on our brief sit in it.

Kia's head of design, Peter Schreyer (pictured here in jacket and black turtleneck), told the Carsales Network that the sedan, which will also sell in North America, will provide the extra luggage space for those who need it, but the Americans are beginning to turn on to hatchbacks.

"When they want boot space, they want the sedan," he said. "But I think [the hatch] has quite some boot space still. The wheelbase has grown and this way the rear overhang looks a bit shorter, and makes it look sporty and dynamic, because it shifts the body forward."

The new Rio, as a five-door hatch, boasts luggage capacity of 288 litres, actually a seven per cent improvement on the old car's boot space. Schreyer believes that the hatch can play a part in winning buyers with that sort of luggage capacity, even in the land of the sedan, the US.

"The European market is a five-door market and a wagon market -- and the American market is a sedan market. But small cars like this [hatch] are coming up more and more in the USA and I think it will be successful."

Kia's designers haven't stopped at the outside designing the new Rio. The company claims that the fit and finish is much improved over the old car's and the vehicle unveiled featured a two-tone colour scheme named Desert Grey -- one of two the company will offer buyers to customise the Rio, the other combination named Cognac Brown. New design cues inside the Rio include a toggle-switch setup for the HVAC controls and Kia's 'three-cylinder' instrument binnacle.

The specifications provided for the Rio are based on cars built for European markets. For those markets, Kia will offer high-end options such as smart-key entry (with engine start button), MP3-compatible CD audio with AUX/iPod/USB connectivity, Bluetooth connectivity with voice recognition, cruise control, climate-control air-conditioning, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel, hill-start assist, front cornering lights, an adjustable speed-limiter, rear parking sensors, and a tyre pressure monitoring system. At least one or two of those items can be expected to be standard-fit in Australia when the Rio arrives.

For the moment, according to Kia Australia's national PR manager, Kevin Hepworth, the final specification for the Australian-delivered Rio is still to be confirmed -- and even the drivetrains are yet to be announced, but a 1.6-litre engine not available in Europe is expected to be on the list, as well as the 1.4-litre Gamma petrol engine that develops 80kW and 136Nm.

Hepworth stated that the 1.1-litre three-cylinder turbodiesel that emits just 85g/km of CO2 (when specified with ISG, Kia's auto-stop/start system) is unlikely to make it to Australia, but this plus a 1.4-litre diesel and a 1.3-litre petrol four will boost the Rio's fuel efficiency credentials in Europe. Developing 66kW of power and 216Nm of torque, the 1.4-litre diesel uses 4.1L/100km and would be a worthy addition to the local range, except that it's only available in manual form.

The standard manual transmission for most engines will be a six-speeder, except in the case of the 1.3-litre petrol four, which is matched to a five-speed box, but may not be sold here anyway. The 1.4 makes do with a four-speed automatic option, but there's no word on what sort of automatic will be bolted up to the 1.6.

Kia has placed the Rio on a crash diet, to reduce fuel consumption. The company says that the weight gain for the larger car has been kept to a reasonable level as a consequence. Rio may also bring Kia's ISG to Australia, further reducing fuel use. The demands placed upon the engineers working on the new body weren't restricted to fuel efficiency. Crash safety has been substantially upgraded through use of high-strength steel in a greater proportion than was the case for the superseded Rio.

Reinforcing the engine-bay longitudinal side members, floor panel side members, floor level cross-member between the B-pillars and the transverse dashboard bulkhead should get the new model across the line for a five-star Euro NCAP rating, the company believes. While the Australian specification is up in the air, the Rio for European markets will feature six airbags and active front headrests as standard. Chances are strong that Aussie Rios will come equipped with these also.

Other safety features that should make it down under include ESS ('Emergency Stop Signal') -- which monitors heavy braking and signals that by flashing the brake lights three times in rapid succession. Xenon headlights, LED daytime running lights and LED tail lights also lessen the chances of a crash in the new Rio.

Hepworth says that the Rio will get the Kia-for-Australia suspension and steering treatment, as do other models brought here. The suspension set-up remains MacPherson struts at the front and is basically carried over from the current model, but the torsion beam at the rear is stiffer to counter understeer and Kia engineers have upgraded the strength of the connection between the trailing arms and the stub axles to improve stability. Stability in cross winds is also helped by a torque/angle sensor for the electrically-assisted steering. There's an extra 10mm of wheel travel in the rear suspension to boost ride comfort and the rear end has been recalibrated for reduced bump-steer.

With mandatory stability control in effect for Australian passenger cars, the Rio will come here with ventilated front discs and solid rear discs. In other markets the Rio is sold with rear drums when stability control is not fitted.

Built at Kia's Sohari plant in Korea, the new Rio will set up Kia to take advantage of what the company predicts will be a substantial upsurge in sales of 'B segment' cars during the next two years. The Rio has sold 860,000 units worldwide since its launch in 2006 and the current car sold 219,000 units globally, last year alone.

With what Kia claims is a much improved new model reaching the market, the future looks bright for the third-best selling car in the company's range.

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