Kia, even more than Hyundai, likes to change the names of their cars, and tack new names on the same car in different countries. A few, like the Spectra, Sephia, and their SUVs don't get this treatment, but it's entirely possible I'll miss something here that is in fact the same car as a different name plate in the US.

Kia has had, similar to Hyundai and Mitsubishi or Daewoo and General Motors, a long-standing relationship with Ford and Mazda. Many Kias have been made for Ford, on Mazda designs.

Kia has a reputation in Korea ...well similar to their reputation in the US. The cars look nice, they're cheap, but they are not reknowned for reliability.

Kia became a division of Hyundai in 1998. The same year, ironically, that they themselves acquired truck maker Asia. The Korean car industry never really was strong enough to support 6 major manufacturers.

This is the same as the Ford Aspire (which was made by Kia). Like the Pride/Festiva, the Avella/Aspire came in versions not available in the US. Like this sedan.

Unless I'm mistaken, the front end bodywork seems to vary a little from the US version, as well.

And here's our Ford Aspire.

Made from 1993 to 1998 (although it looks more like 1987 to 1992, styling-wise). Based on parts compatibility, I'm guessing the the Capital was based on the Mazda 323. Come to think of it, it doesn't look like the bodywork varies much from Mazdas of the late 80s and early 90s.




The Capital enjoyed great popularity in Korea, what with Koreans and their fascination with driving cars that are too big for their streets. Evidence of this is the fact that, while most of these pictures were taken on base, where cars get passed down year after year among servicemembers, and there are more old cars than you'll ever see on the streets in Korea, you will actually see a fair number of these things driven by Korean civilians.


When the US military finally leaves Korea, there will be a wave of older Korean cars coming onto the market for patriotic Korean collectors to fight over.

The Carens is Kia's entry into the compact-car-based Mini-minivan/people-mover category. This is a much less popular segment in Korea than it is in Japan, but still, they are not alone in it. Hyundai has the Lavita, and Daewoo has the Rezzo. But the Carens seems to be the most popular.


According to a forums post I read, the Carens was originally based on the first generation Toyota Ipsum.

Umm...no.

Kia's OTHER mini-minivan. The Carstar is based on the Mitsubishi Chariot. As it was made from 1999-2002, this puts it post-Hyundai takeover, so the Mitsubishi connection makes sense.

Manual transmission versions were uncommon.

Interesting fact: most, if not all Carstars ran on LPG. (There are many filling stations in Korea that carry this.)

The Carens persists, where the Carstar did not. There is no mechanical relationship between the two that I am aware of, but I have seen a "Carens owner's club" sticker on a Carstar.


I am not sure I get why the Kia got such a radical rebodying while the Hyundai closely resembles the Mitsubishi equivalent.

Kia's minivan. Sold as the Sedona in the US. That mirror on the back is for parking. Not for watching dogs in the back of the van, like I thought.

Based on the Mazda 626, this was Kia's mid-sized car in the mid-90s before the Hyundai buyout.


They're still relatively common on Korean streets, which speaks highly of their reliability and desireability, because you don't see many cars older than about 7 years still running in Korea, with the exception of the Daewoo Tico and Kia Pride.




If you ask me, the 626 was better looking.

Successor to the Concorde, the Credos was also based on the Mazda 626. I like it's bulbous styling better than the brick-like Concorde, myself.


It was available with 1.8 and 2.0 liter Mazda engines. This might explain why many Credoses are still on the road.

1996-2000. I think that makes it one of the last Mazda holdovers after the Hyundai takeover.

Umm....what the hell...no...no...no.

The Kia Elan is perhaps the most interesting car ever made in Korea, and it isn't even really Korean.

If the name Elan sounds familiar, or if this car looks familiar, it's because this was originally a Lotus. The early 1990s Lotus Elan (not to be confused with the original of the 1960s) is sometimes called "the bastard Lotus." That's because it is front-wheel drive, AND because instead of the usual Ford or Rover (that is to say, British) engine, the engine came from Isuzu.

It's been called the best-driving FWD car ever made. (To be fair, though, so have other cars, like the VW Corrado).

The Lotus had a 162 hp 1.6 liter Isuzu I4. The Kia had a 1.8 liter Mazda engine, with 151 HP. This engine is clearly (looking at it...I don't have any engine pics, but used car listings do) the same engine as the Miata of the same time, but it makes slightly more power. And it has a much shittier badge. But it's still far and away the coolest car ever to come from a major Korean manufacturer. (And it will remain so unless and until the RWD Tiburon comes out)

I only saw three of these in the nearly 2 years I was in Korea. They're pretty rare. They only made them in 1996 and 1997...that's pretty old for a car in Korea (LOL Korean cars suck). Due to the near absense of sports cars from the Korean market, a used Elan will go for $7-12,000 There was a wrecked Elan on Yahoo Korea where they were asking 2000.

The Morning is a not-unpleasant little car. It is cheap, and you can tell. But it gets from point a to point b.


Headroom is good, and legroom is adequate for a big guy like me. However, you have to consider that I thought my 1984 Corolla was perfect. And I'm 6'1". Your mileage may vary. The interior is decent. Comparable to 80s Toyotas in build quality, but with late 90s styling. Not up to current Hyundais or Japanese cars (and design-wise, not up to current GM vehicles...but I'm not sure how well those are actually built), but for the price you certainly can't complain. Gets the job done and isn't really easily breakable (unlike Daewoo).


It is based on the Hyundai Click, but with more substantial differences than the Atoz-Visto differences. The Morning replaced the Kia Visto in mid-model-year 2004.

This is Kia's second-smallest car, and is perhaps the ideal vehicle for Korea. It's cheap enough you won't cry if you ding it. It's small enough you're less likely to ding it. And you can cram 4 adults in it (or two adults and two or three children quite comfortably.)

Were I to buy a car in Korea, I'd consider the Morning.

See? And the owner didn't bat an eye. (I was there)

This is the best color, IMO.

Sedate cars should come in flashy colors, and flashy cars should come in sedate colors. That's why every sports car ever made looks best in gunmetal/titanium gray.

Koreans place a lot of nationalistic pride in their automotive industry. Now you might think this is misplaced. But hell, the US places a lot of pride in it's auto industry, and the rest of the world auto-savvy world thinks our cars are crap, too.

The Kia Pride is undoubtedly draws it's name from this sentiment, and the fact that the Pride was one of the first Korean cars to really hit it big in the US...it was the first Kia to be sold here at all, in fact. What's extra weird in this particular case, however, is the fact that it was in fact made at the behest of Ford, based on a Mazda design (the 121, in the markets that actually had it). It used Mazda engines (which is why it enjoys a cult among performance enthusiasts, who like to swap more powerful Mazda engines into it). It's Korean in manufacture, not in spirit.



But hey, it does have one of the best reputations ever enjoyed by a Korean vehicle. About the only cars out of Korea to be as well received have been the Hyundai Tiburon and the new Hyundai Sonata.

What we see in this picture is one of the Pride versions that never made it (?) to the US. Note it is a bit longer than the US's 3 door hatch.


And here's the other exotic version. The sedan. I seriously have to ask "why" on this one. It fails on practicality, and you're not buying a Pride for anything but practicality or turning it into a sleeper.

Does that say what I think it does?


It does!

POWER!

If this looks familiar, that's because the new Pride is also the new Rio in the states. Personally, I liked the looks of the old Rio. But I'd read nothing but bad things about it's quality.

This was a fairly big event as car introductions in Korea go. See, the Pride gave way to the Avella/Aspire, so the revival of this name was significant. The original Pride is still EVERYWHERE. It's the only older Korean car you actually will see in quantity on Korean streets. This is almost like the New Beetle to Korea.


You can't see what that little badge on the side says. It reads CVVT. Yes, Kia (and of course Hyundai) now have continuously variable valve timing. They're offering it on a few 2005 models. Including the Pride.

For the longest time, I thought this was a Daewoo. It's Daewoo-ugly in name (think Leganza, or Lanos) and in appearance. Like a poor man's (blind man's?) Mercedes. And I think current Mercedes cars are ugly to begin with.

Perhaps the fact that I'd never seen one in person before is why I didn't recognize it. See, this is known in the states as the Kia Amanti. It was pretty well-received by automotive journalists at it's introduction in 2003. I mean, it's slow, ugly (in my opinion, of course), doesn't handle particularly well, but it's feature-laden, and it's cheap for what features it has. That's always going to appeal to some buyers. "Some" doesn't neccesarily mean "enough," however.

Based on the Mazda 929. Yes, Kia actually made a large RWD semi-luxury car. Kind of makes you wish they'd skipped the Opirus and just brought this back. It's not a bad-looking beast, either.


The styling is definitely reminiscent of the 929, particularly the 1990 model. But it is distinct, and distinctly Kia.


The Potentia was made from 1992-2001, making it one of the longest-running Korean cars ever.


Pity it couldn't have been a little longer. This shape had potential to become something very nice.

Korea is very, very dirty. Part of this is their industry. Part is the prevalence of diesels with little environmental restraint on them. Part is dust blowing in from the Gobi Desert. And part of it is the fact that instead of salt, they throw dirt on the roads. Hey, it works. And would you rather have a rusty car, or a dirty car?

Fuck you, Salt Institute.

Seriously, these people really exist, and one of their main causes is making sure that your state continues to use salt on the roads, and continues to cause your car to rust. Assholes.

Sometimes badged as the Optima, sometimes badged as the Regal, and sometimes badged as both at the same time.

The Kia Optima was introduced in 2000, and is mechanically identical to the contemporary Hyundai Sonata.

I think it's better looking than the older model Sonatas, though.

The Kia Sephia was originally based on the Mazda Protege. This changed, of course, after the takeover by Hyundai.


This is the first car Kia really tried selling in the US.


Either it wasn't much of a hit in Korea, or not many survive. Regardless, Sephias are not terribly common, and that doesn't say much for them...not much good. Also, it's pretty clear the Protege connection isn't as strong as some of their 626-based models. And definitely not like the Potentia.

The Kia Spectra replaced the Sephia in 2001, but was still roughly the same car. It is seen here as a police car. See, there can't be high speed chases in Korea, because they will be stopped by the narrowness, crowdedness, or crappiness of Korean streets. So a Spectra is more than enough car for ANY police force there.


Anyhow, as of 2005, the Spectra abandoned the Sephia legacy, when it became the sibling of the Hyundai Elantra.

Same as the Hyundai Atoz. I mean down to almost everything except the grille. The headlight clusters in some years are exactly the same. The underlying mechanicals and frame are in fact the same.


It has yet to be sold in the US.


Many are in service as delivery vehicles, due to their cheap running cost, and their maneuverability. However, the Daewoo Matiz continues Daewoo's tradition of dominating this sector.


These are delivery vehicles for the Bowling Alley at Osan AFB.

Based on used vehicle listings, I am saying that this was a replacement for the Carens, in late 2002/early 2003. Though there was some overlap.


I think I have only ever seen about 2 or 3 of these...the Carens is all over the place. What does that tell you about changing your model names? GM, Ford, Chrysler, are you paying attention?

I'm not sure what this started life as.


A 1st generation Credos, maybe. But I'm really not sure.


Koreans are big into festoonery. Don't worry, you'll see more when we get to Ssangyong.

Kia Besta

A basic full-size (by Korean standards) van. Now, while cars get tossed out rather quickly in Korea, trucks and vans get driven into the ground. See, Korean companies clealy don't care about fashion, and Korea doesn't really have a truck culture like the US, or even like Japan.


So you get very basic vans like the Besta. This thing is so old Yahoo Korea doesn't even have a category for it in their used cars section.

Bongo Frontier

The Bongo is one of the most ubiquitous vehicles in Korea. It comes in many forms. You might be aware, that there is a Mazda Bongo.

They are NOT exactly the same truck. At least the sheet metal is different. But they may in fact be the same under the skin.

Regardless, you'll see way more Bongos in Korea than in Japan, and that is where the cultural impact happens. It's not a BIG impact, it's just the awareness of Americans of this type of vehicle.



See, there are many Bongos on and around the US military bases in Korea. So many, in fact that US servicemembers tend to refer to ALL cab-over-engine trucks with folding bed sides as "Bongos."



Most of them aren't Bongos. Most of them are Hyundai Porters, or Daewoo Labos.

These things are used for just about everything. Also Korea has different cherry pickers than the US does.



I THINK that's a cherry-picker.

Wide Bongo

This is an older version of the Bongo. See, like I said, trucks and vans are driven forever in Korea. They are driven until they rust apart.

BongoIII

The Bongo van is actually fairly uncommon in Korea. Bongos are mainly trucks. But hey, here's one.

Kia only sells the Bongo as the Bongo in Korea. (Understandably...Mazda would not be pleased) Elsewhere, they use alphanumeric designators. K2700 and such. Bleh.

One thing you see in Korea that I don't get...non-articulated trucks that are HUGE! This truck is HUGE! In the US, this would be a tractor-trailer. In Korea it's a rigid or semi-rigid monstrosity that must be pointed at it's destination in a rail yard roundhouse and must then roll over or through all obstacles in it's path.

I think it may actually share some sheetmetal and underpinnings with some of Kia's busses.

Someone tell me if that number is actually it's engine displacement. 16 liters would be pretty substantial for a Korean truck.



The Granto is no longer sold, and I'm having trouble finding information on it. What I do know is that it was still being produced in 1999.

See, this is a great name because it looks pregnant. Get it? Huh?



I guess the Bongo III name just wasn't doing it for them. They needed something even more edgy and meaningless.

One thing I do like about the Korean trucks. They are not for show. They are for work and getting down in the dirt and getting filthy. Like this Rhino, here.





The Rhino was made from 1994 to 2003. Most likely a victim of Hyundai's consolidation of models, since it was pretty popular in the sorts of jobs you'd see an F350 or larger truck used for in the US.



Pretty long, eh?



And it's got more useable bed, because it doesn't have 4 feet of useless shiny horizontal surface in front of the cab. Asians have the right idea.

The Kia Retona/Rocksta was another carryover model from Asia, like the Towner.



I belive the earlier Rocksta model is the model one often sees the ROK military driving around in.



This is a later Retona.



The Retona and Rocksta of certain years can be difficult to differentiate.



Basically, the more plastic crap there is on the car, the more likely it is to be a Kia and not an Asia. Also one piece of plastic crap will be either a Kia or Asia logo. But apart from that the amount of plastic is the giveaway.



This is a Rocksta, but with a Kia logo. Note that these pictures are in roughly reverse chronological order. So you might see the progression from Rocksta to Retona.



Since there seem to exist Kia badged Rockstas from prior to the 1998 takeover of Asia, I have to presume there was some badge-engineering going on leading up to the buyout.

Here's some Ssangyong-esque festoonery. Not that Ssangyong is the one putting all this crap on the cars...it's just popular with the owners. On the plus sice, I think that roo bar is real.

A military Retona at the DMZ. Note UN-blue flag.

I think this is an early Kia Rocksta, pre 1998.

Police Retona

This is, of course, a US model. But Korea is just as hot for SUVs as the US is.

Much to my surprise, and dispite it's looks and pricing, the Sorento is NOT a car-based SUV. And Kia doesn't have any pickups to base an SUV on. That means they did it the right way, and designed the Sorento from the ground-up to be what it is.

I'm not an SUV fan, but I approve of this. I mean I SERIOUSLY approve of this. No "intimidate with style" poseur bullshit, and no under-engineered glorified pickup this.

But still, I think some people miss the point of an SUV. Hey, you know what you do when you ASSUME, right?

This was Kia's first major SUV entry. 1993-2002, in Korea. In the US it has continued on through 2005, based on the Hyundai Tucson (which is based on the Elantra). This is in fact a distinct vehicle from the true-4x4-body-on-frame Sorento.



As one of the vehicles which led Kia's first major push into the US, it didn't really have so great a reputation.





In Korea, they put just absurdly hideous graphics on it...at the factory. YAY! AN INTERCOOLER!

Does the T mean Turbo?

Somewhere between the Bongo and the Granto (and the Rhino) is the Titan. This is an older truck, so I'm not able to find much on it. But I know the US Army has at least one! Actually, they're pretty rare.



Old cars are so rare in Korea, I had to get this one. Truth be told though, it's probably only from around 1990.

A different year of the same basic model. This one has seen a slightly rougher life of servitude, I think.



This guy is hauling charcoal. Charcoal is used in a lot of Korean restaurants, you see. They're big on indoor barbecuing.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get a picture of one of these. In two years in Korea, I only ever saw three of these things. I took this from a moving bus in the middle of goddamn nowhere.

Now you might ask what's so special about this thing? You may notice that it looks a little different, the proportions aren't quite the same. But you can't see in this picture the main difference: It's four wheel drive. I think the Ceres is Koreas only 4WD pickup.

This was originally the Asia Towner. One of only two significant entrants in the micro-van category. These are everywhere in the built-up areas and markets of Gyeonggi-do.

Kia Trade

Another older discontinued Kia truck model. The Trade is somewhat smaller than the Titan in size.

On to Daewoo, who have snatched success from the jaws of failure.

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