By Justin Berkowitz
March 20, 2008 -
Despite some, ahem, similar products like the Kia Optima/Hyundai Sonata, Kia Rio/Hyundai Accent, Kia Sportage/Hyundai Tuscon, Kia's Director of Public Relations Alex Fedorak says "the two companies' products are apples and oranges." In an interview with TTAC today, he outlined Kia's future product strategy. Kia is meant to be oriented toward youth, and sporty, with edgier designs, and more performance. In contrast, "Hyundai is more luxury oriented." Which is why yesterday Hyundai introduced the new Genesis coupe by doing burnouts on stage. What the heck? But really, the Kia brand is evolving - the next Spectra will come as a sedan and coupe. "In sum," Mr. Fedorak said, "we are going to be design led." Look, I love the Rondo, but that ain't no beauty queen winner.
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March 20th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Kia needs to stop emoting about their brand direction and start delivering good cars. This business is only as complex as you make it.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Check out the Optima V6 with the deceptively titled Appearance Package. Arguably the nicest family sedan you can buy under 20 bills.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Some of their engineering is shared, and in the case of the minivans, the Kia minivan is sold as a badged Hyundai (instead of Hyundai sending over their own slightly smaller Trajet minivan to the states), but the Optima and Sonata are less related that you might think.
Sonata has dual wishbone front suspension, while Optima has McPherson struts. Wheelbases, lengths, tracks both front and rear and body width are not identical. The Optima uses the older 2.7 V6 while the Sonata uses the newer 3.3 with chain cam drives.
I think it’s “do-able” for them to continue with the two brands and differentiate them in the minds of the public.
The Rondo is Kia’s own (based on the Optima mid-sized platform), and the upcoming Hyundai Elantra based wagon is somewhat smaller.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:49 am
If they are moving Hyundai upscale, where is it going to fit when they launch their new luxury brand?
March 20th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Did anyone watch that video? God that was stupid and pathetic.
March 20th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I watched the video…and I bet GM and Ford were wishing they had something in their stable coming by then to compete.
But yeah, it was bit, um, over the top? But then again most car show presentations are.
March 20th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I find it amusing to listen to marketing types talk about the positioning of their brands. Another news article posted here today showed how delusional GM/Lutz is regarding their brands. It seems that marketing types easily fool themselves into believing their own nonsense. Clearly they don’t talk to real people to see if their brands have the image and position they are striving for, and if they do, they probably ask leading questions to get the response they want.
March 20th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Lame video but that car looks nice in silver. Can’t wait to check one out at a showroom.
Has anyone seen weight figures on this thing?
Hyundai claims that the V6 model will hit 60 miles per hour in under six seconds. per leftlanenews
Doesn’t the Mustang GT have numbers like that and its a fat ass, just hope this doesn’t handle like one.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
So WHY then does the Hyundai brand, and not the Kia brand get the Genesis Coupe? Seems like Hyundai is directly interfering with the brand image that execs want for Kia.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
“…, and sporty, with edgier designs, and more performance.” Is that why the Sonata blows the doors off the Optima?
I’m sorry, 190hp from a V6 is pathetic, its just not worth the extra cost.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Sorry, but the front of that coupe still doesn’t look right.