Kia Rio is the “AUTOBEST of 2006” among the emerging markets of Europe
The awards ceremony will take place at the end of January, in Kiev, Ukraine
(December 14-th, 2005)
Kia Rio was voted “AUTOBEST 2006”. With a total of 706 points, the winner overtook Ford Focus II, which scored 659 points, and Renault Clio III, that came third with a total of 599 points. 9 members of the Jury selected Kia Rio as the winner, and the other 3 gave the first place to Ford Focus II.
Despite the fact that Renault Clio III was not voted no. 1 by any of the Jury members, it achieved important points, placing it on the third place. The forth finalist, Chevrolet Matiz/Spark, scored 467 points and Suzuki Swift, 449 points.
“This year’s competition was very tight and all the finalist car models are extremely close to the AUTOBEST philosophy. In front of Ford Focus II and Renault Clio III, Kia Rio emerged as the winner thanks to its fantastic value for money, great versatility and the important efforts paid by Kia in developing an excellent dealership network across entire Europe and in improving the delivery of spare parts. AUTOBEST International Jury is proud to award Rio as the Best Buy Car of 2005”, Mr. Dan Vardie, AUTOBEST Chairman, stated.
“The AUTOBEST 2006 award for the Kia Rio is a splendid achievement for the growing Kia brand,” commented Jean-Charles Lievens, Senior Vice President Kia Motors Europe. “Jury members from the emerging Eastern European countries have given our B-Segment newcomer the strongest possible endorsement as the ideal car for motorists in this region.” Yong-Hwan Kim, Senior Executive Vice-President and COO of Kia Motors Corporation stated, “This award marks the first time an Asian car maker has been awarded a car of the year distinction by AUTOBEST in the ‘emerging markets’ of Europe, which clearly demonstrates that Kia is in tune with the needs of the European customers and committed to expansion throughout our largest overseas market.”
The Jury made its decision taking into consideration 13 criteria, each of them counting a specific number of points that reflect a different importance in the final vote of each car. The price, with 60 points out of a total of 240 available to be distributed among the finalists, is the most important. Other sensitive issues for the region, like distribution network, service and spare parts availability, consumption, versatility and boot capacity, count for 20 points each. All of these specific criteria for the customers in emerging countries total more than a half of the total number of points. Other issues, common for all European countries, like new technologies, handling, dynamics, environmental friendly, are less important. The design, evaluated with 30 points maximum, becomes more and more important for the clients in emerging countries.
The fifth edition of AUTOBEST AWARDS FESTIVITY will take place at the end of January 2006 in Kiev, Ukraine. Following the tradition, AUTOBEST International Jury grants the awards in different country every year. Last year, the awards festivity was held in Bucharest, Romania. Besides the AUTOBEST winners, in Kiev are also invited important people and decision makers from the automotive industry in Kiev and in Europe as well, stars, sports people and famous personalities in Ukraine.
AUTOBEST Jury thanks the readers form the region for encouraging the project and the PR responsible in the automotive industry for providing all the support in organizing meetings and drive tests of the new products.
