Can One Car Please a Whole Continent?

The new Kia Cee'd was designed with one thing in mind: pleasing European motorists. Yet things that are designed by committee usually emerge into production as something that hints at many applications but achieves none, putting a faint smile on most faces but really pleasing none.

The saying "you can't please all the people all the time" must have come from somewhere yet seems to go ignored. So how do you go about pleasing as many people as possible, say a whole continent, for example?

Kia, the South Korean car maker, currently sitting happily as the fastest growing car company in the UK, set out with just that task in mind when it came to designing the Kia Cee'd.

Rather than going for a low-competition area, Kia decided to take on the big guns and set their sights on tackling the much coveted Golf-category. According to the marketing bumph, the Cee'd was designed by Europeans, tested on Europeans and made in a brand new purpose built factory in Europe. It's even named for Community of Europe and European Design.

To ensure all-round satisfaction and to put their money where their mouths are, the South Korean manufacturer also decided to offer something they felt the European market really wanted - assurance. With the Cee'd it comes in the form of a seven year warranty. The longest on the continent, so that's that base covered.

So, with all that effort put into aiming at pleasing the European market, did they manage it? The motoring pundits were certainly impressed with the Cee'd; it rated higher than its direct competition in magazines across Germany and Austria including cars like Citroen's C4 and the all-conquering Honda Civic.

In Denmark, the new Kia picked up the first ever 6 out of 6 rating from the motoring magazine 'Motor' while in Sweden the Cee'd had the highest second hand value among all the cars it tested through the years. Desirable even when used, then.

Awards were also scooped from magazines such as Auto Express and Auto Car and the perhaps slightly less known, Camping Fritid - a camping magazine from Denmark of course.

Since it was launched, Kia have made a few tweaks and changes to attract as many interested eyes as possible. First they took away two of the doors and launched the Pro Cee'd, then they chopped the roof off it and launched a convertible version before putting the doors back on, slapping on a bigger boot and launching an estate in the form of the SW and now there's talk of taking out the engine and putting in a wind turbine.

Well, not quite. Kia are set to launch the eco Cee'd with a mild hybrid tuning of the cars diesel engine with battery power management which means regenerative braking that charges the battery when slowing down and does all sorts of clever things to cut emissions and save fuel during stop-start city driving.

In theory Kia went after making a car that was designed for Europeans and, in practice, have achieved just that. The question now is whether in doing they'e eliminated the other big car market - the US. Though, with numerous concept cars being unveiled that seem tailor made to the American market, Kia could well be aiming at becoming the biggest grower State side too.

Seed Newsvine

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