Kia In The Black And The Red

Kia launched two new special edition hatchbacks designed to kick start an early agressive sales campaign in 2009.

The Kia Picanto Red slots in between the 2 and 3 trims and offers a sporty rear spoiler, new designed 14" alloy wheels and front fog lamps as well as lower emissions to keep it in the ever popular £35 per year tax bracket.

Available in a unique Scarlet Red for no additional cost, the Picanto Red comes in both manual and automatic version starting from £7645 and £8430 respectively.

To match the exteior you'll get a nice coordinated red cloth trim, alloy pedals, an iPod compatible CD player with the usual AUX/USB connectivity, air conditioning and a host of other goodies thrown in for good measure.

For those who like something a little larger than a supermini there's a new Kia Rio 'Black' Special Edition.

Priced from a very tempting £8,745 OTR for the 1.4 litre petrol manual and £9,720 OTR for the 1.5 CRDi manual, the Rio Black is a unique factory built model with 16" alloy wheels and a rear spoiler to give it that mean sporty look.

All–Round Electric Windows, Front Fog Lights, Air Conditioning, 6 Airbags and a Midnight Black Mica Paint complements a very generous specification.

Finally the 1.4 petrol and 1.5 CRDi engines come with a 5-speed manual transmission with the diesel offering a low CO2 and band B £35 VED road tax.

The Rio Black is available now with the Picanto Red following in January.

Lower Emissions For Picanto

In an act of environmentalism, Kia have found a way to reduce the emissions on it's recently facelifted Kia Picanto supermini...rip one of the back seats out!!

Although the move isn't as drastic as it first sounds, the weight saving exercise is enough to push the emissions down to just 118g/km CO2 bringing it into VED tax band B, which costs the customer just £35 per year.

Currently Kia offer a 4-seat version on the basic Picanto 1.0 and 5-seats on the Picanto 2 & 3 variants.

Special Edition Picanto

The first production model to adopt this comes in the way of the new Picanto Chill. A special edition which includes air conditioning, remote central locking, iPod compatibility and a snazzy array of colours including a special blue paint.

This version also becomes exempt from the London Congestion Charge in the planned changes to the system due for introduction in October 2008. The automatic remains in tax band C with CO2 of 143g/km, costing £120 per year.