KIA Motors as one of the 10 Brands That May Disappear in 2011

[coolmazda5]

Kia Motors Corp. is one of the two car brands of Hyundai of South Korea. It has always been a marginal brand. Its stable mate, Hyundai USA, has a reputation for high quality cars like the Sonata and Genesis. Kia sells "low rent" cars and SUV nameplates like the Sorento and Rio. As GM and Ford (NYSE: F - News) have already discovered, it is expensive to maintain multiple brands and storied car names, including Pontiac, Saturn and Mercury, are disappearing. Most Kia cars sell for $14,000 to $25,000. Hyundai has several cars in the same price range. Hyundai's Sonata has quickly become one of the best-selling cars in America, and its Genesis flagship model competes with mid-sized BMWs and Mercedes. The parent company will take a page from several other global car companies and dump its weakest brand

[Yahoo]

 

[Wagonbacker9]

damn... after rumors of a turbo forte i'm actually sad to hear this.

 

[coolmazda5]

Hyundai may just absorbe them and rebadge them, the Forte seems to be a good seller and they have plants allover the place...

 

[1sty]

I highly doubt this will happen
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/...-leading-korean-automaker-to-all-1033063.html

The GM problem is that they had too many brands with identical cars that just had different badges on them.
Ford was over stretched with specialty brands like Volvo and Jaguar. Both also had major upkeep and production cost due to the labor unions that Kia and Hyundai don't.

I could see the brand reduced to the forte, Rondo, sorento, and soul. However the cost to break a contract with a dealership costs a s*** ton in lawsuits that the brand has to be a completely unprofitable dog. Kia is one of the best selling brands since the economy tanked.

 

[coolmazda5]

A detailed reply to the inclusion of KIA as one of those 10 brands:

http://auto.ocregister.com/2010/06/21/is-kia-motors-in-danger-of-disappearing/36495/

 

[genericuser]

Kia is better than it used to be. Their cars still leave a bit to be desired. I looked at a new soul, but I wasn't terribly impressed with the interior of it.

Kias these days look nice on the outside, but the inside is full of awful cheap rock hard black plastic.

 

[Hughes412]

I don't see Kia going anywhere. They are putting out cars that people can afford. They are faily safe, they get good gas milage and a warranty that will most likely out last the car it self. I've had my Kia Rio for 2.5 years and have had no problems. I ave 30 mpg in mixed rush hour diving and 33-35 mpg on the hiway. The only thing you have to have if you own a Kia a back up vehical. While they are getting better, they still have no balls. But that's ok, here are my balls. They are they blue one!

Yea, I red lighted.(burnout)

 

[xxxmonoxidechil]

last year i was shopping for a good daily driver suv that had 4wd, but still got good gas mileage. after a month of shopping. i bought a 09 kia sportage v6 4wd. got it loaded, for under $20k out the door. there wasnt anything comparable to the price with these kinds of options.

in under a year, ive already put over 43K miles on it. beat the crap out of it. and havent had a single problem. its never been in service. the 1 complaint i have is probably the seats are just eh compared to my nicer cars. but if i splurged on the leather. it wouldnt have been a problem. but i skipped on that option like a dummy.

if kia does close, i wont really care. just means ill have to go to hyundai if i have any warranty issues. lol

 

[Newf]

kia isn't going anywhere. At least not in the next 5 years, they are doing better then they've ever done.

 

[TinmanMS6]

Kia and Hyundai do need to stop stepping on each others' toes, but there's no reason the brand should go anywhere.