Kia Cee’d

Kia Motors revealed the name of its all-new family car which will make its world premiere in production-ready form at the Mondial de L’Automobile in Paris on 28 September — the Kia cee’d (pronounced ‘seed’ according to Kia).

Kia has also released the first photographs showing the oddly named Sedan. Kia alongside owners Hyundai have a tradition of giving odd names to cars.

Kia says the new cee’d will help improve the brands image and credibility.

“Our new C-segment model marks a major turning point in Kia’s history and is named cee’d for several reasons,” explained Jean-Charles Lievens, Senior Vice President of Kia Motors Europe. “cee’d is a short, dynamic and innovative name. It’s unconventional, a name which breaks the automotive rules. A surprising name for a car destined to surprise our rivals and delight our customers. I’m sure the name will get people talking about Kia and also be easy to remember.

“The ‘CE’ symbolizes that this model is made in the European Community and the ‘ED’ indicates this car is a European Design created especially with European consumers in mind. ‘cee’d’ represents the ‘seed’ for abundant growth in Kia sales that the new model will undoubtedly ensure. Finally, we wanted to introduce a fresh name in line with Kia’s brand attributes — quality, trustworthy and dynamic,” added Lievens.

It will go on sale in December 2006, cee’d will be produced at Kia’s first-ever European manufacturing facility in Slovakia and will be marketed in Europe. Echoing the stylish appearance of the Kia concept car of the same name (exhibited at the Geneva Show earlier this year), cee’d is a truly European design.

We can only hope Kia will bring this car to Australia in the future.