KIA AUTOMOTIVE AUSTRALIA
Cerato five door / Page 1 / April 16, 2005KIA CERATO FIVE DOOR SLIPS INTO THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET
If you thought you’ve seen a Kia Cerato without a boot, you are not seeing things ~ a handful of five door versions of Kia’s small sedan have slipped into the Australian market and they are flowing through selected Kia dealers as used cars.
“When we launched the Kia Cerato last year our plan was that the sedan would be followed by the five door Cerato a few months later,” explains Edward Butler, General Manager of Kia Automotive Australia. “For this reason, we brought into Australia for the launch a number of Cerato hatchbacks to be used for the launch and dealer training.”
“But the Cerato has proved to be such an outstanding success for Kia in Australia that our entire build allocation is taken up by the demand for the sedan. Therefore, our plans to launch the five door as a new model have had to be put, and remain, on hold. But this has left us with a not inconsiderable number of used five doors, along with vehicles that we had pre-ordered for a fleet customer, and we are now releasing these cars via our dealers for sale,” explains Mr Butler.
The Kia Cerato hatch comes with an upgraded equipment package over the sedan, including 16 inch alloy wheels, leather steering wheel and gear knob and silver tone dash treatment, added to the standard equipment package that includes remote central locking, electric windows, Air-Conditioning and CD player. Mechanically, there are two versions of the Kia Cerato five door. The manual gearbox version has the same 2.0 litre 101 kW engine as the Cerato sedan, while automatic is equipped with the new Kia CVVT 2.0 litre engine with 106 kW.
While it is shorter than the sedan – 4480 mm vs. 4340 mm long – the Cerato hatch has the same height and width and, therefore, shares the same spacious passenger compartment as the sedan. The hatch offers a 345 litre boot, which may be expanded with the split folding rear seats.
The Kia Cerato sedan has a recommended retail price in Australia of $18,990 for the manual version and $20,990 for the automatic version, including on road costs.
“It is still our plan to launch the Kia Cerato hatch in Australia and the final specification has yet to be decided. Therefore we will not be issuing a recommended retail price for a new car, and as all of these cars are being sold as used cars, legally we cannot provide a price for them,” explains Mr Butler. “But Kia Cerato hatch buyers can rest assured that this new model will represent the same outstanding value for money as the rest of the Kia range. However, they will have the added benefit, as well as the stylish good looks of a European styled hatch, for a brief while at least, of rarity value!”
(ends)
For further information:
Kia Automotive Australia Media Web Site:
Edward ButlerGeneral Manager
Kia Automotive Australia
Ph: (02) 9701 8080
Mob: 0417 294 493
Fax: (02) 9701 3555
E-mail:
Edward Rowe
Public Relations Manager
Kia Automotive Australia
Ph: (02) 9701 8080
Mob: 0407 913 244
Fax: (02) 9701 8015
E-mail: