New Kia Pro-cee´d production starts six weeks early

• First Kia Pro-cee´d three-door model produced on 25 October
• Orders for more than 100,000 Kia cee´d 5-door models placed since launch
• Kia´s Slovakia plant now building four different models

Kia Motors´ first-ever vehicle manufacturing facility in Europe - the €1 billion operation at Zilina in Slovakia - is operating so efficiently that production of the new Kia Pro-cee´d began today - six weeks ahead of schedule.

The new three-door Kia Pro-cee´d, which made its World Premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, marks a major expansion of the popular Kia cee´d family of cars. Longer (+15 mm), lower (-30 mm) and lighter, the new Pro-cee´d is the third member of the cee´d family and brings more style and more sportiness to the C-segment in Europe.

"The build quality and the productivity levels achieved by our Zilina operations are quite remarkable," asserted Mr In-Kyu Bae, President and CEO Kia Motors Slovakia (KMS). "These two factors, plus the skills and versatility of our workforce, have enabled us to bring forward assembly of the first customer Pro-cee´d cars by six weeks."

Mr Jean-Charles Lievens, Senior Vice President Kia Motors Europe, added "Since its launch in Europe in December 2006, orders for more than 100,000 cee´d five-door models have been received, and this model, with its 5-Star EuroNCAP safety rating, has played a key role in raising Kia brand awareness as well as sales. Now, the introduction of the Kia Pro-cee´d will expand our appeal to a different audience and will attract numerous European consumers who find three-door cars particularly attractive and who have not yet considered our products."

The Kia Pro-cee´d has an extended nose, a shallower front grille, new-style headlamps, a wider bumper with a prominent lip spoiler, a deeper central air intake and larger fog lights. The windscreen is much shallower and the doors are 276 mm longer with a unique design. The side profile is truly distinctive, with a beltline that rises much more steeply towards the rear of the car. Despite its lowered, more sporty appearance, Pro-cee´d provides generous legroom front and rear, and luggage capacity is a class-leading 340 litres with the rear seats upright - the same as its five-door sister car.

The 19-strong Kia Pro-cee´d range is scheduled to go on sale across Europe early in the new year and, thanks to the quality and durability of cars manufactured in Slovakia, each one will come with the unique Kia 7-Year/150,000km Warranty.

With a highly-trained staff of 2,600 employees working two shifts, Zilina is now building four different Kia models - cee´d five-door hatchback, cee´d Sporty Wagon, Pro-cee´d three-door and Sportage SUV - on the same assembly lines.

Kia is confident that its Zilina facility will now go forwards to establish new benchmarks for vehicle quality and productivity - manufacturing 100 cars per employee per year when fully operational and becoming the most productive car plant in Europe.

- Ends -

Editors´ Notes

Kia Motors Europe
Kia Motors Europe is the European sales, marketing, and service arm of Kia Motors Corporation. With its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, it covers 29 markets in Europe.

About Kia Motors Corporation
Kia Motors Corporation (www.kiamotors.com) was founded in 1944 and is Korea´s oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia aims to become one of the world´s premier automotive brands. Kia´s 13 manufacturing and assembly operations in nine countries produce more than 1.3 million vehicles a year that are sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering 165 countries. Kia today has 33,000 employees and annual revenues of US$19 billion. Kia is the major sponsor of the Australian Tennis Open and an official worldwide sponsor of the Davis Cup. From 2007 to 2014, Kia will be an official automotive partner of FIFA - governing body of soccer´s FIFA World Cup. Kia boosted its football links this year with three new sponsorships of major teams that will see the Kia logo appearing in the UEFA Champions League - FC Girondins de Bordeaux, FC Brussels and Atletico de Madrid. Kia Motors Corporation´s brand slogan - ´The Power to Surprise´ - represents the company´s global commitment to surpassing customer expectations through continuous automotive innovation.

Press Contact
Mr Panu Vainamo
Tel 0049 69 850 928 352 Email pvainamo@kia-europe.com

Kia Motors Europe GmbH
Theodor-Heuss-Allee 11, 60486 Frankfurt, Germany.
Tel 0049 69 850 928 352 Fax 0049 69 850 928 399