Back in March we showed you spy pics of a Kia cee'd dressed in performance paraphernalia. It was wearing an "XR" badge, which forecasted Kia's recent confirmation that over the next three years it will be introducing high-performance models under an XR sub-brand. The confirmation became apparent when Kia rolled out a cee'd XR last week at a press event in South Korea. The five-door hatch has been fitted with various aero enhancements, as well as larger wheels wearing lower profile tires. While the cee'd XR's engine was admittedly unaltered, Kia's people say they're investigating turbocharged engines for the Euro market and supercharged engine for the U.S. market.
Back in the day, Kia made it known that it wanted to be the performance brand to Hyundai's mainstream bread-and-butter image when it grew up. It appears that puberty may be over for the littler Korean brand that could, and the XR lineup could give Kia its own high-po hardware to square off against vehicles with badges like SRT, SS and WRX.
[Source: Autocar]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jchoate @ May 22nd 2007 12:13PM
GM & Saturn might have something to say about using "XR"...
the law @ May 22nd 2007 12:17PM
look like kia will beat GM to the Vauxhall Corsa vXR
Euro GM has a whole of VXR, I'm sure hyundai/kia wants a piece of that market.even with GM bringing Opel/Vauxhall over as Saturns might be little too Late!
GM needs to get on the ball before hyundai/kia place their spot!
Gavin @ May 22nd 2007 12:26PM
What about the Toyota Matrix XR? I'm sure they won't be too happy about the XR name on Kia's.
mk @ May 22nd 2007 12:31PM
Or Mercury... XR has been traditionally been a modifier for Mercury models, although Mercury is being starved to death at the moment. XR7 Cougars, XR2 turbo Capri, and I think there may have been a couple others. Let alone the XR4ti Merkur.
VXR is a Vauxhall, but Opel, Saturn, and Holden don't necessarily use it on their variants, and XR is never used by Vauxhall, without the V preceding it.
BTW, WRX is not a sub-brand, or brand-wide trim name, it is a single model trim name. it would have to be used for more than one model line to be a sub-brand. There is no Legacy WRX, or Outback WRX. WRX is a proper name, not a modifier. STI, however, is a subdivision of Subaru, and a modifier for more than one model, at least outside of the US...
SS or SRT, GT, -V, -S, -R, M-, and others are sub-brands or modifiers, and usually modifiers for models' proper names.
The kia pictured looks like a Mazda knock-off, anyway. That it does have in common with the upcoming WRX.
I wonder how long it will take Kia XR badges to make the rounds to other lesser models, or other cars entirely, like VTEC or red Hs, or Type-S badges...
Brian Dreggors @ May 22nd 2007 12:36PM
Saturn called...
Tim @ May 22nd 2007 12:39PM
I don't know about everyone else but I am tired of the alphabet soup name game. The only alphabet soup that belongs on cars is for Chevrolet with the "SS" badge and even that is abused. Suffixes are fine I guess but when the actuall name of the car is a mess of 2 or 3 letters, it gets rather confusing.
Colin Smith @ May 22nd 2007 12:44PM
I couldn't care less about the mix of letters.
Here in the UK Vauxhall has a three year warranty.
The Cee'd has a full SEVEN year one. Sorted!
dave @ May 22nd 2007 12:48PM
I think it looks pretty hot
Juan @ May 22nd 2007 12:48PM
Turbo'd for Europe and Supercharged for US? Why not just invest in one? I think they misunderstand the US market if they think a preference for supercharged small engines 1) exists and 2) will sell so much better than a turbo'd engine that it will make up for the engineering costs.
One or the other is fine guys. I don't care either way. Just get something made to match the aero kit.
Aetius @ May 22nd 2007 12:54PM
That's a carbon-copy of my Mazda3 Sport GT!!!
dave @ May 22nd 2007 12:59PM
"\That's a carbon-copy of my Mazda3 Sport GT!!!"
Actually, I think the front end looks much nicer...of course things could change after production.
swe @ May 22nd 2007 1:07PM
daamn.. that's a kia? what's next, flying pigs?
djSyndrome @ May 22nd 2007 1:14PM
You can't copyright a trim level, such as XR, LX, SE, etc. There has been overlap for decades and it's likely to continue.
You can, however, trademark a car *name*, even if it is letters. Ask Infiniti how they feel about the letter 'M' right about now.
dave @ May 22nd 2007 1:45PM
A supercharger would be a mistake in the US market.. The tuner market made the WRX a huge success and that gave us the sti and evo.
But their popularity was because of the ease of upgrading a turbo to make sick power.. granted you can get a new pully to make more boost but it would be to costly to upgrade and make power to switch.
Dr. Woo @ May 22nd 2007 1:58PM
"Ask Infiniti how they feel about the letter 'M' right about now."
Or "Q." Or "Z."
SGV @ May 22nd 2007 2:56PM
Can they be a bit more original? XR has been used by Ford of Europe and Mercury for their performance versions. I hope that Ford wont let them get away with this . . . .
Tom Design @ May 22nd 2007 3:02PM
Nice looking with huge glass expanse. The C-pillar is a rip off from the Mazda wagon, and provides very poor rear quarter visibility. The front grill is attractively done, (take note Audi/VW). The headlight fixtures are dramatic, and echo the Honda Fit, but nicer. I do not like the massive front overhang look, circa 1990's GM FWD. The measurement from the front wheel opening to the front door crease is very close, making the tires looked crammed into the driver's legs, not a nice look. And then over 12" of overhang in front of the wheel opening, just makes a car look very locomotive, cow shovel-y. Besides GM FWD cars, Subaru suffers from this, with their decades old wheelbase setup. Some nice details, and pretty lines, but nothing classic with the nose heavy balance and blunt rear end.
kevin @ May 22nd 2007 3:20PM
I don't know if that is the actual car spoken of in the article. On paultan.org there are more pictures of the Cee'd XR and it looks far different from the pic on autoblog....
http://paultan.org/archives/2007/03/27/kia-ceed-xr/
dakota @ May 22nd 2007 3:20PM
"The only alphabet soup that belongs on cars is for Chevrolet with the "SS" badge"
Uh huh, and I suppose SRT-4,6,8, and 10 mean nothing right?
Tim @ May 23rd 2007 7:18AM
Not really...