Photo: Kia Motors America
The whole Kia stand at the SEMA Show is built around one very simple - and also romantic - idea: the good old American habit of going on a road trip.
With a country so large, so diverse and so beautiful, it was only natural that American families climbed into their cars and went from one corner to the other the moment personal cars became the norm.
Kia decided to celebrate this tradition with its SEMA line-up, so expect every model present there to be a nod to one region of the country or another. Let’s take, for instance, the A1A Optima.
No, it doesn’t speak about an A1A province you’ve never heard of, but the A1A highway in Florida (also known as the Sunshine State). It’s a 300-mile-long winding coastal road with the shimmering blue ocean and golden sands on one side that would be wasted in any other kind of car but a convertible.
In comes the Kia A1A Optima, a 2016 Optima saloon converted into a fully-functional open-top vehicle with suicide doors and a shortened windshield. The vehicle was modified by LUX Motorwerks, which chose a turquoise paint scheme for the exterior and a set of 20-inch wheels. On the inside, the A1A Optima gets bucket seats all around covered in creamy leather, while motivation is provided by the lively 2.0-liter turbocharged engine pumping out 245 hp.
Next up is the PacWest Adventure Sorento. This one needs no further explanation - it’s a vehicle created for enjoying the outdoors and it looks like it can handle anything that nature could throw at it.
Photo Safari Sedona, on the other hand, is a weirder idea inspired more by one of the four seasons - autumn, to be precise - and not one area in particular. The explosion of color that comes after the end of summer has inspired Kia to build a car specifically for professional nature photographers. And so they went and consulted a whole bunch of them, and this modified Sedona is what they came up with. It’s got mounting bars for fixing DSLR cameras and even an editing studio in the back, where the second row of seats once was.
Forte Koup Mud Bogger is the proud representative of the South in Kia’s SEMA lineup. As the name suggests, it’s a reference to a pastime Americans everywhere are very fond of, and we’re talking about mud racing - or bogging. There’s no point in detailing the car - there’s a press release below if you’re interested - but suffices to say the Koup Mud Bogger was designed to get dirty - something every piece of its exterior and interior seems to point towards.
Ballast Point Sedona, a vehicle previously shown at 2014 SEMA, is making a comeback at the request of the public - and since it’s basically a mobile beer bar built together with Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits, it’s easy to understand why. It can carry up to four half-barrel kegs, and that’s everything we need to know, really.
Finally, there’s the Trail’ster, a modified Kia Soul painted in Polar Pearl Snowdrift/Terra Bronze Metallic, which is intended for those who seek to escape the urban life and search for “higher elevation playgrounds in the Rocky Mountains” - which might prove to be a rather restrictive audience. Anyway, the Trail’ster comes with an electric hybrid AWD, and that could quickly turn the car into a 2WD up there in the cold mountains.
For a live encounter with these vehicles, look for Kia’s booth at the SEMA Show held in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Kia decided to celebrate this tradition with its SEMA line-up, so expect every model present there to be a nod to one region of the country or another. Let’s take, for instance, the A1A Optima.
No, it doesn’t speak about an A1A province you’ve never heard of, but the A1A highway in Florida (also known as the Sunshine State). It’s a 300-mile-long winding coastal road with the shimmering blue ocean and golden sands on one side that would be wasted in any other kind of car but a convertible.
In comes the Kia A1A Optima, a 2016 Optima saloon converted into a fully-functional open-top vehicle with suicide doors and a shortened windshield. The vehicle was modified by LUX Motorwerks, which chose a turquoise paint scheme for the exterior and a set of 20-inch wheels. On the inside, the A1A Optima gets bucket seats all around covered in creamy leather, while motivation is provided by the lively 2.0-liter turbocharged engine pumping out 245 hp.
Next up is the PacWest Adventure Sorento. This one needs no further explanation - it’s a vehicle created for enjoying the outdoors and it looks like it can handle anything that nature could throw at it.
Photo Safari Sedona, on the other hand, is a weirder idea inspired more by one of the four seasons - autumn, to be precise - and not one area in particular. The explosion of color that comes after the end of summer has inspired Kia to build a car specifically for professional nature photographers. And so they went and consulted a whole bunch of them, and this modified Sedona is what they came up with. It’s got mounting bars for fixing DSLR cameras and even an editing studio in the back, where the second row of seats once was.
Forte Koup Mud Bogger is the proud representative of the South in Kia’s SEMA lineup. As the name suggests, it’s a reference to a pastime Americans everywhere are very fond of, and we’re talking about mud racing - or bogging. There’s no point in detailing the car - there’s a press release below if you’re interested - but suffices to say the Koup Mud Bogger was designed to get dirty - something every piece of its exterior and interior seems to point towards.
Ballast Point Sedona, a vehicle previously shown at 2014 SEMA, is making a comeback at the request of the public - and since it’s basically a mobile beer bar built together with Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits, it’s easy to understand why. It can carry up to four half-barrel kegs, and that’s everything we need to know, really.
Finally, there’s the Trail’ster, a modified Kia Soul painted in Polar Pearl Snowdrift/Terra Bronze Metallic, which is intended for those who seek to escape the urban life and search for “higher elevation playgrounds in the Rocky Mountains” - which might prove to be a rather restrictive audience. Anyway, the Trail’ster comes with an electric hybrid AWD, and that could quickly turn the car into a 2WD up there in the cold mountains.
For a live encounter with these vehicles, look for Kia’s booth at the SEMA Show held in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
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