BY MARK GILLIES

Wrong Name, Right Car: As Usual, Europe gets a quality car that won’t be seen on these shores.

As car names go, Cee’d is about as off the mark as they get, giving Merkur a run for its ill-advised money. Kia says it was named for good reason. Since the car was designed and is built in Europe, Kia took the initials for the European Economic Community”CEE in some countries”and added ED for European Design. Okay, maybe that’s not such a good reason, but Ceeed would make even less sense, hence the extraction of an e and the addition of an apostrophe. (more…)

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BY JARED GALL, PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFFREY G. RUSSELL

Kia drops a blown V-8 into its crossover concept.

This is not, in fact, a secondary sketch of Acura’s Advanced Sports Car concept. It’s a Kia crossover concept called the Kue. Kia’s U.S. boss, Len Hunt, says that the crossover’s coupe-like styling is a conscious attempt to differentiate its products from Hyundai’s. (more…)

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BY STEVE SILER

Kia previews the next Sportage in Korea.

Kia’s winsome Kue crossover concept was one of the surprise hits of the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. After all, what’s not to like about Kia’s edgy new design language applied to a wide-set scissors-doored SUV with 400 horsepower from a blown V-8 and all-wheel drive? (more…)

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