Where's Rondo? Kia sells three in the U.S.
Fans of wagon-like small minivans (yes, me and you other two), should keep your eyes peeled for Kia's new Rondo. There are apparently quite a few more on U.S. roads than there were last year. Three more actually. Which brings the total number ever sold in the U.S. to, uh, three.
Some sharp-eyed journalist over at Automotive News noticed the odd sales figure at the bottom of Kia's recently-released October sales numbers. They quote a Kia spokesman saying Kia is mounting a soft launch of the Rondo. The Rondo is not being advertised. The Rondo is not listed anywhere on either Kia's consumer Web site nor on their media site. Maybe instead of soft launch the spokesman should have said mushy. Or even nonexistent.
The Kia employee also says they expect to sell 500 by the end of December.
Um, good luck!
Check out the sales chart for yourself after the jump.
[Source: Automotive News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
john riley 7:15PM (11/05/2006)
Over at car spy shots someone posted links to pics of a brochure they picked up at the South Florida Auto Show. It had pics of the Rondo.
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k111/Philrocka/kiabrochure2-1.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k111/Philrocka/kiabrochure.jpg
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RZ 7:19PM (11/05/2006)
Looks good, clean, smooth.
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J 9:46PM (11/05/2006)
Rondo is a lovely village in the Andalucia region of Spain.
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j-dawg 9:50PM (11/05/2006)
With gas prices like they are (were), I'm surprised things like these don't catch on faster. Seven seats and a tiny footprint? Sounds good to me.
But I don't think the PT Cruiser you've linked to is the best example of a wagon-like small minivan; how about the Mazda5?
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Howard Kerr 10:08PM (11/05/2006)
As Kias go, this is actually supposed to be half decent. In some world markets it's sold instead of the Rio, especially the Rio wagon, which is considered to be a "commercial" vehicle in some markets...go figure.
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That One Person 10:09PM (11/05/2006)
Very interesting...looks like a good vehicle. I think I read about this thing somewhere (maybe Car) but didnt realize they were bringing it to the US...well obviously no one knew...except for the three people that bought them lol.
But it looks like a good vehicle. Why not advertise the shit out of it?
And they better do something about the Amanti. The only thing I ever liked about those cars were the front LED parking lights/turn indicators.
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sp 10:11PM (11/05/2006)
obviously the car isnt selling yet, 3 examples are probably their testing models.
you guys need to get the quality of stories back up - it is getting tiring to read blabberings of people who know nothing about car industry...
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sp 10:12PM (11/05/2006)
5. Carens is about 2x more expensive than Rio... at least. So selling it instead of Rio seems like pretty crazy idea...
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David 10:33PM (11/05/2006)
It's very nice that there is an option to the VANS that are on the market these days. America has *NO* minivans. They're all over-bloated, over-sized FULL-SIZED vans for Soccer Moms with OVERSIZED VAGINAS.
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AMcA 11:17PM (11/05/2006)
I think this is a smart way to test the waters with a new model, and I don't know why the heck Ford and GM don't try it with some of their foreign market offerings. Sell a few. See how it goes.
For some reason, Ford & GM insist on full-bore, build it in a plant here, 150,000 of them a year for any foreign model. No wonder they find that a risky approach.
OK, so you have to support them maintenance-wise, but the added cost of doing that is a small price to pay for a real-world market test of a car you might (or might not) want to sell in the US.
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AMcA 11:37PM (11/05/2006)
Rondo is not the picturesque Spanish village. That's Ronda.
A rondo is a musical form.
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HardwareGuy 11:34PM (11/05/2006)
They should at least put stuff out on their website. The incremental cost is basically zero. I understand that they don't wanna risk running TV ads which are expensive, but they should at least let people cross shop it on the internet.
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Jay 12:12AM (11/06/2006)
Maybe Kia is affected by similar production shortages that Hyundai has been facing, and they're selling in a few regions only at first and holding off on a huge launch until they have their supplies in order. If they're only expecting to sell 500 of them in December, it sounds like they're not quite ready to do a nationwide launch.
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ruggels 12:18AM (11/06/2006)
I own two of them.
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jb 12:39AM (11/06/2006)
If only Ford could come up with a lineup like Kia.
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iownhyundai(butnotin3yearsiwont) 1:35AM (11/06/2006)
1) On thehyundaiexchange.com,,they have a story claiming Kia did not wanna bring this here until jan 07, but , it came out early, and expect 500 sales by 31dec06.
2) I am tired of Hyundai. had a 99 sonata gls v6. nice car, BUT:
Issues:
3 recalls for computer chip for "fuzzy logic" shifter(automatic).
needed new alternator at 87,000 miles( 3.5 years old), needed a new turn signal stalk at 90,000(it crack off!) that was only 25 dollars, but what a pain.
at 103,000, alternator went.
115,000 radiator leak, needed radiator, but the dealership put a Ford raditator(they calle dit after market, to save me cash, at first)...dumped it at 119,000+ miles(5 years) for a Scion tC(now at 70K miles in 26 months, and GREAT, except tune up and oil change prices at Toyota= rip off).
Also had a 01 tibby: axels and bearings up front out at 99K, repalced under warranty. 103,000, tranny dying.... still have 20 months left to pay, took a BIG HIT, and were (more or less) Forced ot buy this 04 GLS V6 we have (Sonata). It's ok, but at 32K, march 06, needed new gaskets for rear windows and motors(power windows).
Still have 3 years to pay off, or about 2.5 years, so it MIGHT get paid off in trade in deal, for Other vehicle.
Might consider Kia(I did read their 07 Optima shares the engine and a few strampings: they built their own platform etxc...and crtics LIKE IT better than Sonata, except for lowerr V6 power).
Kia Might bring a sporty 3 door version here: the Pro-Ceed(this car is seither from a Hyundai FD, or Cee'd, Kia's concept car?).
Who knows?
Maybe I'll just buy the Cruiser. PS: how is a mazda better than the PT?
Better go look at Edmunds Editors choices, and why...
also, can you take out the seats in the mazda?
I may buy the 09(out in 08?) PT.... supposed ot be on the Lancer platform(next gen), and have the GEMA engine in it.
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Jim 3:06AM (11/06/2006)
Ran across this vehicle many months back while out looking for the next Santa Fe being testing in SoCal. I wasn't sure if it was to be a Hyundai or Kia, but I got to walk up to it and give it a good look. It was very roomy and functional.
James
http://www.CarTV.com
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Bob 3:22AM (11/06/2006)
I'd be up for the Mazda5, but you can't get stability control. This Rondo may seriously be my next car. I'm kinda smitten here.
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Uncle Jed 7:09AM (11/06/2006)
#16---
All of the Hyundais you've cited are "old" models. Apparently, the new launches are all doing exceedingly well, at least from an initial quality standpoint. The Sonata, in particular, launched last year, in a new factory, in a country where they'd never had manufacturing before (the U.S.) and still proceeded to trump most of the Mid-Size competition in JD Power's IQS survey.
As for why the Mazda5 might be a stronger example of a small minivan than the PT Cruiser, let's start with the fact that it's got 3 rows of seats (fold-flat for the rears) and sliding doors. Though the seats don't remove, they do fold flat, providing an extremely tall interior cargo carrying capacity. And, you don't have to remove the seats, which my wife WON'T do in any case & I don't want to have to do to use my wagon for carrying large items. Leaving the seats at home (or wherever) in order to carry a bunch of stuff in a vehicle that is, first, a people mover, is not preferred; Have plenty of research results that support this... You really want seats that "get out of the way" and that don't have to be removed.
I agree with those that say the Mazda5 is a cool little machine; Consider that you get that much reconfigurable room in a snarky looking 1-box vehicle, with the Mazda3's powertrain AND you can have a manual tranny (and it's one of Mazda's great shifters, while you're at it) & I think I might even replace my hot-hatch with it. I'd love a Mazdaspeed5 ('speed3 drivetrain) and I'd pay over $23,000 for it.
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UpIrons 8:38AM (11/06/2006)
I wonder what it's like to bring one of those in for warranty service. I would doubt that every dealer service dept would even know what it is at first. They would be like "are you trying to pull a fast one on us or something"?
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