Photo: Kia
It took South Korean manufacturer Kia only twelve years to reach an important production milestone at its assembly plant in Žilina, Slovakia.
Kia established its European production hub back in 2006, assembling car models from the cee’d family, the Sportage and the Venga. GT versions of the cee’d, and pro_cee’d also come from the Slovakian plant.
The carmaker says that in the twelve years it has assembled cars in Europe the business grew so much that now, of all the models it sells in Europe, half are manufactured locally.
The most successful of its products is the cee’d. From the first year of operation, Kia manufactured 646,300 first-generation cee’d and an additional 647,700 from the second generation.
The 2018 version of the model, which has changed its name to ceed, has not entered production yet. When it does, it will be manufactured at the same assembly facility.
The new ceed will start selling in Europe at the end of the second quarter, with several gasoline and diesel engines. Performance-wise, the new engines bring only a tiny increase of 4 percent in power from the 1.4-liter T-Gdi, which will replace the previous versions’ 1.6-liter GDI.
Although the new version is just around the corner, somebody in Iceland thought it might be a good idea to order an outgoing model, with an outdated name. The 3 millionth cee’d is a five-door hatchback in GT-Line trim, powered by a 1.0-liter T-Gdi engine.
Aside for cars, the Slovakian facility also produces several gasoline and diesel engines, and it will be fitted to manufacture the new U3 1.6 diesel to be used in the new ceed.
Last week, Kia had another reason to celebrate, as the other of its iconic models, the Sportage. The model, introduced in 1993, sold 5 million units in 25 years, surpassing the B-segment Rio as the brand’s global best-selling model in 2016 and 2017.
The carmaker says that in the twelve years it has assembled cars in Europe the business grew so much that now, of all the models it sells in Europe, half are manufactured locally.
The most successful of its products is the cee’d. From the first year of operation, Kia manufactured 646,300 first-generation cee’d and an additional 647,700 from the second generation.
The 2018 version of the model, which has changed its name to ceed, has not entered production yet. When it does, it will be manufactured at the same assembly facility.
The new ceed will start selling in Europe at the end of the second quarter, with several gasoline and diesel engines. Performance-wise, the new engines bring only a tiny increase of 4 percent in power from the 1.4-liter T-Gdi, which will replace the previous versions’ 1.6-liter GDI.
Although the new version is just around the corner, somebody in Iceland thought it might be a good idea to order an outgoing model, with an outdated name. The 3 millionth cee’d is a five-door hatchback in GT-Line trim, powered by a 1.0-liter T-Gdi engine.
Aside for cars, the Slovakian facility also produces several gasoline and diesel engines, and it will be fitted to manufacture the new U3 1.6 diesel to be used in the new ceed.
Last week, Kia had another reason to celebrate, as the other of its iconic models, the Sportage. The model, introduced in 1993, sold 5 million units in 25 years, surpassing the B-segment Rio as the brand’s global best-selling model in 2016 and 2017.
Google News