Quote:
Originally Posted by Cavi Mike
Well it looks like a Lexus and has a Mercedes bite-off key so you know it's Chinese or Korean but if it's actually coming here it's gotta be Korean so with Hyundai off the list, it's a Kia.
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Yep, it's a
Kia
After owning a 98' Kia Sephia LS and having the auto transmission going at 52,000 miles, car not wanting to start even on just a chilly day and horrible design (Headlights yellowed and flaked in 3 years)... I must say I am pretty impressed where Kia is going.
The production version of Kia Motors Corp.’s full-sized sports utility vehicle Mohave was shown to the press for the first time yesterday. The vehicle was introduced during a test-drive session at the automaker’s plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. It is scheduled for launch on the local market in January 2008.
Mohave, short for “majesty of hi-tech active vehicle,” is Kia’s first full-sized SUV, and is the first one which embodies chief design officer Peter Schreyer’s “simplicity of the straight line” principle.
At the event, Schreyer explained that Kia is working on processes to develop a unique image, and that the Mohave represents the new aesthetic direction of the firm.
The car is the first from a Korean automaker to be equipped with a 6-speed automatic transmission produced by the German auto parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
And it comes with a
6-valve, 3-liter diesel engine that produces 250 brake horsepower. The car is also equipped with a button ignition system and
curtain airbags that are deployed if the vehicle rolls over.
The SUV will be launched in North American markets in June of next year, and will be called
Borrego, after another California desert. According to the company, the Mohave will be marketed against foreign automakers’ SUVs, including Ford Motor Co.’s Explorer and the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Export versions of the car will be available with a
6-valve or an 8-valve engine