More new Kias

Two more new Kias are on the stand at the Geneva Motor Show alongside the Ex-Ceed convertible concept (see below). The most significant one for the Irish market is the new Ceed Sporty Wagon (nice car, terrible name) which should be hitting dealers in this country by the end of the summer, with 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines and a bigger boot than the Ceed hatchback at 534-litres.

There's also the first European sighting of the Rio hybrid. It's been produced at the behest of the Korean Government, with whom Kia has a contract to supply over 3,000 hybrid vehicles for extensive testing. It uses a 90bhp petrol engine, mated to a 125kw electric motor and a CVT gearbox. Fuel consumption improves to 5.29-litres per 100km and emissions drop by 44% compared to the regular petrol Rio. There are no plans in place yet to sell it in Europe, but the simple version is that Kia wants to make it big in the European market, and the EU is on the verge of imposing stringent new CO2 emissions regulations. You do the math...