Kia goes for a sporty image boost

Kia is looking to add sports and performance cars to its range to help raise its brand image, and is even considering a rear-wheel-drive coupé based on the 2011 GT concept.

First in line is a high-performance version of next year's second-generation pro_cee'd, which made its debut at the Paris show.

It will be powered by a 200bhp 1.6-litre direct-injection turbo engine and offered with six-speed manual and double-clutch transmissions. It goes into production in the middle of next year.

But Kia's vice-chairman and CEO Hyoung-Keun (Hank) Lee says the company is "seriously looking" at the idea of building a car based on the GT coupé concept from last year's Frankfurt show. If it goes ahead it will almost certainly be RWD.

"In my opinion a sports car should be RWD," Lee says. "When I was at Hyundai we tried the Coupé with front-wheel drive. It was considered sporty looking, but the driveability was different.

"We haven't decided yet, but we need a certain product to help with our brand image. We have tried a couple of concept cars and found some potential in the GT. We will try a couple more in the future, starting at Geneva next year, and test the media and consumer response before choosing one."

Kia has had a sports car in its range in the past, in 1997, when it bought the design rights to the Lotus Elan and began a small production run with one of its own engines in place of the original Isuzu unit. But a year later Kia went bust as Asia's Tiger economies collapsed, leading to the takeover by Hyundai.

Jaguar's sporting chance

Jaguar's new F-Type two-seater sports car due for launch next spring could be the key to unlocking the brand's return to motorsport.

Brand boss Adrian Hallmark said: "In terms of a return to racing we have made no commitment but we absolutely want to - but not in F1 or Le Mans. Those are too expensive. Motorsport is all about customer engagement and the F-type is clearly a sports car. There are all sorts of moves in terms of regulation changes going on at the moment in motorsport and this all starts to make things more attractive to us in terms of cost."

The F-Type, he said, is on track for launch in late April - just the right time of year to be launching a cabrio but the weather was obviously not the main consideration for developing a topless model first.

Hallmark said: "The sports car market is 50-50 cabrio coupe so it really makes no difference as to which one you start with, but the cabrio is more complicated to engineer so we are taking route one to the summit. The coupe should be easier to develop from there."

Not to mention the fact that profit margins on the cabrio are potentially greater.

The F-Type and XK will also be at the forefront in the emergence of a high performance sub-brand, a ball which has already started rolling with Jaguar's R and RS models. Hallmark said there is a good business case for a sub brand given the success of the XKRS - the brand's first £100,000+ model: "and we are selling all that we can build", said Hallmark.

He added: "R can stand for real performance and RS will be an extension of that. This will also allow us to expand in terms of merchandising and accessories much in the same way as M Sport does for BMW or AMG for Mercedes."

Business re-think helps Toyota through

Toyota is riding out the economic downturn in Europe by reforming the way it does business.

This has included the decision to concentrate production of all its Auris C segment models in the UK, rather than splitting assembly with its factory in Turkey.

Didier Leroy, head of Toyota Motor Europe, said: "This allows us to maximise efficiencies as the UK is where the majority of Auris suppliers are. Our Burnaston plant is also very productive and efficient and we get a lot of backing from the British government."

Toyota, he added, has 70 tier one suppliers in the UK which now supply 25 percent of all components to the company's European plants. While Burnaston will be the sole producer of Auris and Avensis models for Europe, Toyota's Valenciennes factory in France will continue to produce only Yaris while a year from now the Turkish plant will start assembling the Corolla saloon mainly for markets in Eastern Europe.

Leroy said:" The Market in Europe continues to be a challenge but we took these decisions two years ago so that we could maximise our strengths. While other companies worry about overcapacity, our main concern is whether we can make enough cars."

The introduction of the Auris has seen 800 new temporary jobs at Burnaston - some 150 of which have already been made permanent  - while production line speed has been increased to produce one car every 66 seconds, down from 89 seconds.

Leroy does not see any upturn in European car sales until at least 2014, however. He added: "I think next year will be down by around 5 percent with increased sales in Eastern Europe but markets in Western Europe will be down. Despite this we are expecting our sales to increase."