KIA NAMED AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR BY AUTOCAR

The UK's oldest motoring magazine, Autocar, has named Kia as its Car Maker of the Year at its annual award ceremony at the Horticultural Halls in Westminster London.

Citing the Korean giants "mind-blowing" ambition, editor Chas Hallett presented the title to Mr Nam-Yong Kim, President of Kias European Research and Development Centre in Germany.

Hallett commented: "When the irrepressible Kia group started talking, just a few years ago, about wanting to become the world's fifth largest car company behind Toyota, GM, Ford and Audi-VW, many of us were sceptical. Then the Korean group got serious. They hatched a plan to assemble a European design and engineering team to conceive a range of models for Europe. Boldly, they challenged the VW Golf and Ford Focus head on, building cars that looked as good and worked as well - offering them with a far longer warranty, just for good measure."

With plants in North America, China, Europe and other locatins including Russia, the Middle East and South East Asia Kia have climbed into the top ranks of the world's biggest car companies in less than 50 years. Kia began making automobiles in the 1960s and didnt start exporting their products until the 1980s.

Kia currently builds its cee'd family and Sportage SUV models at its state-of-the-art factory in Zilina in the Slovak Republic and construction of a plant in Georgia, US is nearing completion.

President Nam-Yong Kim commented "This recognition of the efforts of everyone within Kia is a great honour, coming from such a renowned publication as Autocar...This award will only encourage us to re-double our efforts to continue our development and if Chas Hallett thinks our ambition is 'mind-blowing', then all I can say is 'He hasn't seen anything yet!'", he added

Added November 2008