Review: New Car Round-Robin 2012 Toyota Camry LE

Back in 1994, I bought a brand new Toyota Camry. It drove like an underpowered Mercedes with an advanced sixteen valve, four-cylinder engine. Unbelievably quiet, refined, and durable beyond compare. The Camry offered a level of quality back then that most other automakers couldn’t match at even twice the price. This good news spread throughout the land. Within eight years, everyone in my family along with millions of other new car buyers had a Camry or a Lexus ES300 in their garage. By 2002, Toyota had made the Toyota Camry a gold standard in the American marketplace and annually decimated the rest of best selling car rankings. The Camry was dominant, price aggressive, ubiquitous, and even hated. Hated it was first and most of all...

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Review: 2012 Toyota Camry

The year: 1992. The rental car: the then-new third-generation Toyota Camry. My father was surprised how much the car drove like his Lexus LS 400, it was so smooth and quiet. While enthusiasts might deride the Camry as an appliance, it had this, and for the last two decades has served as the midsize sedan segment’s benchmark for refinement. Despite dull handling and an interior that grew cheaper with each redesign, sales increased, to the point that the Camry has been the best-selling car in the U.S. for 13 of the last 14 years. But with competitors more stylish, more powerful, better-finished, and even poised to pass the Camry in refinement, the Camry increasingly trades on past accolades, incentives, and a reputation for reliability. Consequently,...

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Review: 2012 Toyota Prius

Brand extensions aren’t common in the auto industry, perhaps because they rarely (if ever) succeed. Chrysler and Oldsmobile hyperextended the LeBaron and Cutlass brands, respectively, into oblivion. But Toyota has struggled as much as anyone to sell hybrids that aren’t named Prius, so it will now attempt to sell additional models under that highly successful nameplate. First up: the Prius v (with the lowercase v for “versatile”). How far and how effectively does a second model extend the reach of the brand? Brand extensions require finesse. If the additional model is too different than the original, then it becomes unclear what the brand stands for. But if it’s overly similar, people wonder what the point of it is, if they become aware...

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Kia Most Improved Brand in ALG Perceived Quality Study

ALG, a company best known for predicting residual values on vehicles in its automotive lease guides, also conducts ‘Perceived Quality’ studies. And the findings of its most recent one (Spring 2011); indicated that of all automakers that sell cars and trucks in the U.S., the most improved in the mainstream category was Kia Motors. “For Kia, the consumer quality recognition is the payoff for a recent revolution in product quality and design supported by aggressive marketing campaigns,” declared Eric Lyman; ALG’s Director of Residual Value Solutions. Other brands that reported notable gains in perceived quality included Land Rover; largely fueled by the growing popularity of the Ranger Rover Sport and new Evoque models. In terms...

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Kia Produces 300,000th Vehicle at West Point, Georgia Plant

Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc. (KMMG) celebrated production of the 300,000th vehicle today at its West Point, Georgia plant. Mass production of the Kia Sorento CUV began at KMMG on Nov. 16, 2009, and the crossover is the Kia brand's best-selling vehicle in the U.S. Since opening, KMMG has added two shifts and completed the hiring process for nearly 1,000 new team members, bringing the total number of jobs created at the plant to more than 3,000. The critically-acclaimed Optima midsize sedan will be added to the production line later this year, and the plant has begun a series of expansion projects to increase its annual capacity to 360,000 vehicles in 2012. "The completion of our 300,000th vehicle in less than two...

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Hyundai and Kia Boost U.S. Sales Target for 2011

Yesterday, Hyundai Motor Group said it is expecting to raise its U.S auto sales by 18.2 percent this year to 1.06 million vehicles, an improvement from a previous target of 1.01 million. Hyundai would to sell 624,000 units and Kia with 433,000 in the U.S. Both South Korean automakers are experiencing fast growth in the U.S market with a combined share reaching 10.1 percent as of May from 7.7 percent in 2010 and 3.3 percent in 2001. The launch of the Hyundai Veloster and the Kia Rio subcompact in the U.S are to help maintain the sales momentum of both companies. Chung Mong-Koo, charman of the Hyundai Motor Group, announced the sales increase while visiting the U.S, which may be linked to the possible construction of a second plant to meet booming demand in the world’s second-...

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Kia Reunites Joyride Characters for 2012 Sorento Ad (w/VIDEO)

Though not as successful as their music-loving hamster counterparts, Kia’s oddball cast of life-size children's characters from last year’s Joyride commercials are back for a new advertising campaign. Muno, Sock Monkey, MR. X, the vintage robot and teddy bear will star in two new 30-second TV spots for the 2012 Sorento CUV. As with the original campaign, "Joyride 2" was created by David&Goliath, KMA's advertising agency of choice. The first commercial begins airing today and will be followed up by the second spot next month. "The Sorento has been Kia's best-selling vehicle in the U.S. every month since arriving in showrooms in January 2010 thanks in large part to the immense popularity of the original 'Joyride Dream' campaign,"...

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Kia Sweeps Design Awards in New Automotive Brand Contest

Kia Motors is one of the big winners at the first ever Automotive Brand Contest which was organized by the German Design Council. The judge panel declared Kia Motors the worthy winner in four categories. Three kia models were picked as winners for the exterior category, including the compact Sportage SUV, the forthcoming Rio (on sale from September 2011) and the all new Kia Optima (above). Kia was also ranked ‘Best of Best’ in the brand design category, where strategy and focus of the brand’s overall design is rated. Peter Schreyer, Kia’s chief designer said, “We are all exceedingly proud that Kia Motors has done so well in this new competition, which is very important within the automotive industry. By changing our basic design...

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Kia's US Sales Jump 36% in Second Quarter

Kia Motors announced its has increased its sales on the global market by 21 percent in the period between April to June. However, a much more note-worthy result was achieved by the South Korean carmaker on American soil, where the company reported an impressive 67 percent increase in profits and 36 percent in sales, due to demand for the Optima sedan and Sportage SUV. According to Bloomberg, sales momentum in the US will slip in the third quarter, as Japanese automakers return production to normal levels after the March earthquake. “As long as the company retains the current sales volume, the impact on profits will not be that big,” said said Yim Eun Young, an analyst at Dongbu Securities. “What Kia has to look out for in the...

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Kia to Unveil V8 RWD Sports Car Concept in Frankfurt

During the past few years, Kia has completely transformed its image from a manufacturer of affordable, but rather unexceptional, cars to that of an automaker that offers a stylish and coherent range, thanks in no small part to the hiring of ex-VW Group designer Peter Schreyer. Now, however, it is moving in uncharted waters if a recent report from What Car is accurate. According to the British magazine, the Korean automaker wants to further improve its image with a halo car that will signal the firm’s intent to make sportier vehicles. And it plans to do so by unveiling a V8-powered, rear-wheel drive sports coupe at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Kia’s boss Hank Lee said that that the V8 coupe to be shown in...

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