Kia Motors to Invest 2.3 Billion Euros in European Green Plan

Kia Motors will invest approximately 2 billion pounds (2.3 billion euros) to make its European business a bit greener and launch a couple of models that would reduce the overall fuel consumption figures of the current range. The South Korean manufacturer said it plans on becoming one of the world's top four manufacturer of low emission vehicles by 2012, according to theautochannel.com.

"The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group is determined to bring affordable and usable green technology to the European consumer and our introduction of cee’d ISG and other environmentally friendly technologies clearly shows that we have a firm grip on our plans for a green future," Sun Yung Kim, President of Kia Motors Europe, said.

"We expect the demand for environmentally friendly and low emission vehicles will pick up strongly as the global market emerges from the current recession and we are determined to be ready to meet that demand from our customers."

Kia will introduce multiple petrol and hybrid vehicles, as well as the fuel-efficient cee'd ISG, all of them within the next two years. Additionally, the company will also debut plug-in hybrids which are expected to be marketed at a global level, following their official debut in the domestic market.

“We already have one of the most environmentally friendly production plants at Zilina in the Slovak Republic and in Korea we have the world’s only dedicated environmental research and development facility at Mabuk. Along with investment in technology the company has also announced a big increase in the number of green R&D engineers and specific investment in developing fuel cell technology for cost-effective production,” he added.