Concept KIA Vehicles

Concept cars are designed to showcase daring new ideas and technologies. They are generally presented to consumers at car shows and other automotive events, and used to gauge reactions. Car manufacturers can use this feedback when designing vehicles in future.

Here are some of our favourite KIA concepts cars designed over the past decade or so, moving forward in time.

Kia Kee (2007)

Image Source: www.kia.com.au

Going all the way back to 2007 we have the sleek, eye-catching coupe – the Kee. Unlike many concept cars, this vehicle was actually quite realistic. With a 2.7 V6 engine and 6-speed transmission, it has various elements that have influenced the KIA road vehicles of today.

Kia Ray (2010)

Image Source: www.topspeed.com

Released in 2010, the Ray is a classic example of a daring concept car with futurist design elements. Looking as much like a spaceship as it does a road car, this four-seat prototype was put together with recycled materials, and was in fact inspired by aircraft designs.

Efficiency was the primary concern here – this is a plug-in hybrid vehicle with a fuel economy rating of 86 km per litre. It also reflects sunlight, meaning there is less of a need to burn energy using an air conditioner. KIA really thought of everything here.

Kia Track’ster (2012)

Image Source: www.kia.com.au

The highly praised Track’ster caused a lot of buzz at the time. The reason behind this will be clear when you find out the making concept of Kia Track’ster. We now understand this was a sampl e of the direction that KIA has since taken with its Soul models. 

Described as being ‘tough’ and ‘like a bulldog’ by its chief designer, the Trickster is great to look at and has a strong engine to back it up, boasting a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with 186 Kilowatts of power! We would have loved to see this one mass produced.

Kia Niro (2013)

The Kia Niro, which was presented at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show, is a sleek, compact vehicle with vertical doors and front-wheel-drive capability. Featuring a 1.6-litre engine and seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission, the Niro has been designed to rival smaller European compact cars of a similar type.

Kia Trail’ster (2015)

Image Source: www.topspeed.com

The Trail’ster was Kia’s most rugged concept Kia Cars when it was introduced back in 2015. This off-road beast comes with a 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, delivering up to 220 hp and an electric all-wheel-drive (e-AWD) system with 1.2 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery powering a 27 kW electric motor. It’s a true off-road concept king with a rough and tough exterior and a breathtakingly refined interior.

Kia Niro-EV (2018)

Image Source: www.kia.com.au

The descendant of Kia Niro is the newest addition to the KIA fleet. The Niro-EV was first revealed at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2018. It’s a real car of the future; not so long ago virtual reality, self-driving cars, and full vehicle connectivity were all considered technologies of the distant future. 

But the Niro-EV features innovative human-machine interface and advanced ‘motion graphic’ lighting systems, giving us a glimpse at the future. Apart from the spectacular design and futuristic concept, this beauty includes the world’s first in-car 5G connection as well.



Concept cars are the perfect examples for years of R&D efforts coming to life. Kia is always bringing the future closer with their innovations.

What exactly is A Concept Car?

Every so often you may see a car in a newspaper article or online that strikes you as something out of the ordinary. These cars are often made to tease you about who manufactured it, as well as contain some features that are often too good to be true. Concept cars are the projected image of a car manufacturer in their simplest form: their ideals, innovations and designs, but there is also a lot more behind these radical designs.

Concept cars are nothing new, they have been on the drawing boards of car designers the world over for the past century. The idea was to let all of the young design teams of manufacturers create something out of their wildest dreams on paper that would help inspire the latest generation of vehicles that were produced.

 

Design: Refined

 

Concept car designs are based on the idea of the refinement of good design. Designs for cars that featured innovative shapes and lines were allowed to be refined from their original drawings to then be tested in the real world to see how they would match up.

Some of these iconic concept cars have actually made it to market, while others have remained a fantasy. Some of the most successful cars that have made the switch from concept car to production vehicle include the Chevrolet Volt, the Honda NSX as well as the formidable Kia. The Kia being the latest example of great innovation in design as well as curb appeal.

Branding and Innovative New Concepts

 

The design process for a new car includes the initial concept of the vehicle itself. This initial concept may not actually include images of the car, but instead a representation of the car manufacturer’s brand image, its philosophy as well as the company ethos. So, for brands like Kia that thrive on small, sporty and innovative vehicles, the idea for the car is already there, just a lick of paint and some stylish lines are what is needed to put flesh to the bones of the finished product.

The concept car is featured in many automobile shows around the world to get a feel of a car brand, as well as an insight into possible future innovations that may appear in upcoming models. Ground-breaking features such as all-glass construction, robotic driving and hover ability may be a little too far down the road, but be sure to keep an eye out for the latest innovations in safety and aerodynamics when the next round of concept cars are splashed all over the motoring press later this year.

Image Source: KIA