14th October, 2010
The range of vehicles wearing the stylish Kia badge in Nigeria will soon be widened when the all-new Cerato 5-door hatchback is unveiled by Dana Motors, official distributor of Kia brand of vehicles.
According to sources from the auto company, they are introducing a third member of the Cerato family – the 5-door Hatchback, to strengthen its representation in what is arguably the world’s most important market sector – the ultra-competitive C-segment. Kia anticipates that demand for C-segment hatchbacks across markets outside Europe will grow to more than 1.2 million units by 2012.
“The availability of this third bodystyle for our C-segment model will enable Kia dealers to meet the needs of a broader range of customers. This derivative will boost total Cerato sales to an even higher level all around the world, improving Kia’s fortunes by capturing a larger market share,†comments Hyoung-Keun Lee, Vice Chairman, Kia Motors Corporation.
Technically similar to its sedan and Koup sister cars, the new Cerato 5-door has the same overall width, height and wheelbase as the sedan, but the rear overhang is reduced by 190 mm, as is the overall length, so the 5-door model is 4,340 mm long. Despite its more compact dimensions, the hatchback’s cargo volume of 385 liters (VDA) is highly competitive in its class.
The roof, rear side panels, C-pillar, tailgate, rear bumper, light clusters and two-tone spoiler are all new. At the front, bold styling incorporates a new radiator grille, new lower air-intake grille and new-shape fog lamps. The door mirrors are new, with LED repeaters, and re-styled ‘double five-spoke’ 16-inch and 17-inch alloy wheels that is available.
Similarly, the car company announced that its global sales figures for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for September 2010, recorded a total of 187,251 units sold.  This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 20.6%. In September, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in all regions of the world – 44.4% in general markets (41,425 units sold), 33.2% in North America (34,816 units sold), 24.8% in China (31,645 units sold), 8.7% in Europe (39,174 units sold) and 3.0% in Korea (40,191 units sold).
