The Kia Rio, consistently one of Australia's top three most popular small cars, has been replaced by an all new-model that delivers more performance, more equipment, more features and more value for money, as well as providing further evidence as to why Kia is one of Australia's fastest growing major car brands.

"The Kia Rio was the launch-pad for the success of Kia in Australia over the past five years," says Dinesh Chinnappa, General Manager of Kia Automotive Australia. "And while Kia has grown, with the Carnival grabbing the headlines as Australia's number one people mover and the Sorento for its benchmark styling, the Rio has been the almost quiet achiever, winning over owners with its value for money and steadily climbing the sales charts."

"The new Rio, therefore, has a highly significant role to play in Kia's on-going Australian success story," explains Mr Chinnappa. It has to maintain the value standard that has brought us so many customers, but at the same time have the abilities to take Rio to new areas of the market, to people who may have believed that, in the past, a Korean car couldn't deliver what they were looking for. We believe that the new Rio has those abilities and will further enhance Kia's position in the Australian car market."

Many cars claim to be all-new, but few actually achieve it. One such car is the new Kia Rio with its name being just about the only thing carried over from the existing model. For a start, both versions of the new Rio are clearly positioned to meet market sector expectations, with the five door styled to slot straight into the European standard for a small hatchback, while the four door is very much a classic compact sedan.

This means that the hatch is smaller on the outside, making parking and manoeuvering easier, but on the inside both the hatch and the sedan are actually bigger than the cars they replace. This has been achieved by using a longer wheelbase, placing the wheels very much at the four corners of the car and by clever packaging of the drivetrain that releases more space for the people inside the new Rio.

The engine and transmission are also all-new, with a power hike of more than 11 kilowatts significantly lifting performance. This is achieved with an engine that not only has a lift in capacity, but also uses CVVT technology. This variable valve design allows the engine to 'breathe' more efficiently, boosting power, economy and cutting exhaust emissions. This new engine is mated to a choice of two new gearboxes, a five speed manual and a new four speed electronic auto unit.

All new independent suspension smoothes out the bumps and ensures that the new Kia Rio fulfils all the requirements of a small car to be nippy around town. But nippy doesn't mean noisy in the new Rio. A considerable amount of attention has been made to make the Kia Rio quiet and smooth under all conditions, meaning as well as being nippy around town, it's also quiet and relaxed on the freeway.

When it comes to safety, the new Kia Rio not only looks after its owner, it also looks after other road users. This is because as well as twin air bags, a rigid safety cell surrounded by crumple zones and a chassis that helps it avoid accidents, the new Kia Rio has been designed specifically to minimise injuries to pedestrians in the event of an accident.

Kia Automotive Australia's policy in Australia has been to provide vehicles with long standard equipment lists and exceptionally short optional equipment lists.

The new Kia Rio is no exception.

The Kia Rio has front and rear electric windows with one touch operation on the driver's window. The external mirrors are electrically operated and the steering is power assisted. Entertainment is provided by a six speaker CD audio system, comfort is ensured through a powerful AirCon system and security is provided by remote control central locking. But the Kia Rio also has a raft of surprising standard equipment, such as the variable reclining rear seats in the Rio hatch, the split fold rear seats in the sedan and 12 volt power point in the centre console for all those 21st century gadgets and gizmos.

However, its doesn't stop there. The Rio has lots of clever design features such as the ash tray that non-smokers can remove, giving themselves an extra cup holder, or the extra big cup holder for water bottles. Then there is the clever clothes clip on the headrestrainst support, the hidden handles in the boot and rear hatch lids that enable them to be closed without touching the outside of the car when its dirty, not to mention the storage compartments in the boot of the hatch back and the remote release for the boot in the sedan. This is clever and thoughtful design at its best.

"With all these improvements, it would seem quite reasonable to expect that there will be a big price jump for the new Kia Rio," says Dinesh Chinnappa. "And yes, the Rio is, at $15,990, a $1000 more than the Rio was when it was launched five years ago. But today's Rio is driveaway, it has power windows and twin airbags and it has more power and space, so the bottom line is that the new Rio is not just a significantly better car, it also offers significantly better value for money."

The new Kia Rio is $15,990 driveaway as manual hatch or sedan and $17,990 driveaway with an automatic gearbox. The only options are metallic paint at $190 and ABS anti-lock brakes with EBD at $850. The new Rio enters the Australian car market on 1st September 2005.

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