This is a Kia? First look at Forte Koup

April 9th, 2009, 1:55 pm · 7 Comments · posted by Matt Degen

It’s looking to be quite the year for Irvine-based Kia Motors America.

While Detroit automakers are in shambles and sales of just about every other automaker have fallen by double digits, Korea’s Kia is introducing sleek new cars and is reporting a rise in sales (in fact, March U.S. sales just rose 12 percent from the previous month).

The latest cherry on top is the Forte Koup, which Kia introduced today at the New York auto show. After glimpsing the first photos, my reaction was: “This is a Kia?”

This sleek new car, which was designed in Irvine and is Kia’s first coupe, is a further departure from Kia’s past yawn-inducing aesthetics.

The Forte Koup, which will be a production model, follows the angular Kia Soul, a sleek but beautiful box of a car that just hit showrooms in the past few weeks and recently won an award for its interior design.

The Koup, which is a two-door version of the recently introduced Forte sedan, is aimed squarely at coupe versions of Honda Civic and Ford Focus, as well as the Chevrolet Cobalt and Scion tC.

The Koup will come in two versions and will offer some muscle under the hood to back up its visual bite. The base EX version will feature a 2.0-liter dual-overhead-cam four-cylinder engine rated at 156 horsepower, while the upgraded SX model gets a 2.4-liter four good for 173 horsepower. Both models will be front-wheel-drive.

Staying true to its economic character, Kia says gas mileage for both vehicles will be at least 31 mpg.

Inside, the car will seat five adults and feature options like a leather package and heated seats, while standard features include power windows and doors, air conditioning, driver seat height adjustment, tilt steering column, remote keyless entry, cruise control and steering-wheel-mounted controls.

No sale date or prices were announced with the unveiling, but one thing’s for sure: Kia is coming up in the world.

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5oclocksomewhere says:

April 10, 2009 at 11:40 am

It looks like an anemic Lancer EVO.

muyemura says:

April 10, 2009 at 11:44 am

Remember the Hyundai Scoupe?…looks like a retread of that car.

bpsqwerty says:

looks pretty good, but then you see the interior which is just bad. the leather’s OK (probably not great quality material) but the rest just makes it look like a toy car inside.

I don’t know how they won “awards” for other interiors. blech… and light grey everywhere never helps.

Matt Degen says:

April 10, 2009 at 12:02 pm

5′oclock: Good call on the Lancer: that was my first reaction, too. And muyemura, tnx for the (slightly painful) memories of the Scoupe!

FastNCrazy says:

April 10, 2009 at 3:50 pm

Never buy a KIA. A polished turd is still a turd. Buy a Ford, GM product, or a Toyota, not A KIA. Pure junk from day one!

javier says:

April 13, 2009 at 7:41 pm

actually gm makes nothing but turd cars. impalas catching fire. at least kia’s do not catch fire

kushibo says:

April 11, 2009 at 3:19 am

I’m glad I didn’t take your advice, FastNCrazy, since I’ve been driving a Kia Sedona (Korean model in Korea) since 1999 and it was a great move to do so.

I love the car and it’s still running very strong. Never had any real problems with it, but my mom and sister, both driving Chrsyler minivans bought at about the same time, don’t even have faith their car will get them to their destination on long trips. I still remember having to go retrieve sis on the 73 when the car completely broke down.

Have any of you naysayers actually driven a Kia?

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