Kia Cee’d Production Hits 200,000 Milestone after 18 Months

Production of the Cee’d family that consists of three body variants (5door, SW and the 3door Pro_Cee’d) at Kia’s all-new Zilina factory in Slovakia has topped the 200,000 mark, 18 months after the first car rolled off the production line at the company’s one-billion Euro facility. The Zilina plant’s productive records this year include 915 units made in a single day on Monday 21 April, 4,474 units in a single week starting 7 April and 19,300 units in one month - April.

"This is another truly significant day for Kia," said Mr In-Kyu Bae, President and CEO Kia Motors Slovakia. "We produced our 100,000th cee’d last September, only 10 months after start-up, and with the addition of the cee’d wagon and pro_cee’d three-door hatch we have reached our 200,000th cee’d after only eight more months. We are proud to have achieved record productivity levels while maintaining excellent build quality."

Kia Pro_Cee’d to take Part in Nurburgring 24-hour Race

This year’s Nurburgring 24-Hour endurance race (May 24-25) has caught the attention of many (mainstream) automakers. However, Kia didn’t go overboard creating a fully race-prepped model like VW did with its Scirocco GT24. Instead, the Korean car manufacture will participate in this weekend’s endurance race with a barely modified three door pro_cee’d that will de driven by a team from Continental Italia.

The pro_cee’d that will take part in the race is powered by Kia’s stock 2.0-liter diesel engine producing 138Hp at 4000rpm and 305Nm of torque from 1800 to 2500rpm. In all, four drivers will share the 1,900km or 1,181 mile long journey between them - Dr Alberto Bergamaschi who already has 360 races under his belt; Gianni Bellani – an experienced long distance race expert; and two experienced touring car drivers, Paolo Cecchellero and Edo Varini.

2009 Kia Pro-cee’d: 3door Version Of The Cee’d Revealed

Kia has released the first teaser image of the Pro-cee’d, or to put it simply, the Cee’d 3door hatchback, prior to its World Premiere at this year’s Frankfurt International Motor Show on 11 September. Developed by Kia’s design team in Europe under the direction of Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, the Pro-cee’d is the production version of the ‘pro_cee’d’ concept shown at the Paris Motor Show in 2006.

From what we can make, Kia’s design team seems to have stayed close to the original concept. Compared to the 5door Cee’d, the 3door version features a restyled front bumper and more pronounced rear wheel arches while according to Kia, it’s also longer and lower. Sadly, the Koreans avoided handing out a rear-quarter picture of the Pro-cee’d so we could see if the Audi A3 inspired rear-end of the concept passed into production. -Continued: Click “Read More…” below

Jean-Charles Lievens, Senior Vice President Kia Motors Europe commented, “Longer, lower and lighter than its five-door sister car, the new Kia Pro-cee’d is going to be a great drive. Combining real style and genuine practicality, our new three-door cee’d is sure to delight existing Kia customers and attract a new group of European consumers who have not yet considered our brand.”

Like the two other members of the Cee’d family (5door and SW), the Pro-cee’d will be manufactured in Slovakia. According to Kia, production is scheduled to begin in November with first customer sales during the early months of 2009.