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Kia's promised "four-door coupe" Cub concept... isn't

Kia appears to have pulled a quick one on the world with its Cub Concept. As it turns out, the machine isn't the four-door coupe they promised at all. Instead, the little showcar is a five-door hatch with suicide rear doors. That's certainly fine by our reckoning, but it isn't quite what we were expecting to see on display at the Seoul Motor Show. The concept was penned at the company's design studio in Seoul with direction from Peter Schreyer, and it gets its thrust from a 204-horsepower, 1.6-liter direct-injection four-cylinder engine. With 195 pound-feet of torque on hand, we suspect the Cub would have little trouble hustling down the road.
Indoors, the Cub serves up black leather seats with yellow accents as well as a new Driving Information System that uses a gesture camera to control various operations. Right now, there are apparently no plans to put the Cub into production anywhere in the world, but we wouldn't be surprised to see some of the hatchback's elements make their way to the show room floor.

2014 Kia Sedona rises from the dead, same as it ever was

Don't throw away your car seats just yet, Korean minivan enthusiasts - the Kia Sedona is back on the market. If you recall, Kia killed its minivan offering at the end of 2012 (there was never a 2013 model). But here's what's making us scratch our heads: Despite the fact that Kia did confirm that the Sedona would eventually be back, we were under the impression that it would return with a proper replacement for the aging van. (Earlier reports suggested something along the lines of that cool KV7 concept.) Instead, the reincarnated Korean minivan you see here is, well, the same as it ever was. Consider our buzz killed.
That's not to say there haven't been a couple of delightfully refreshed bits thrown into the new package. For starters, the Sedona wears a slightly updated schnoz with a redesigned grille, LED positioning lamps and standard foglamps inside the reworked lower fascia. (If we're honest, the Kia looks a bit Ford Windstar-ish from the front three-quarter angle.) There's a new 17-inch wheel design for the 2014 model year, and aside from a couple enhancements to the interior in terms of storage, that short list rounds out the full extent of the new updates.
All Sedonas are powered by the same 3.5-liter V6 that debuted in the 2011 model, producing 269 horsepower and 246 pound-feet of torque, mated exclusively to a six-speed automatic transmission. Fuel economy ratings fall in at a rather mediocre 17/24 miles per gallon (city/highway).

Kia to green-light GT and Provo for production?

Kia is looking to inject a bit more performance life into its brand, and according to Auto Express, the company is looking at creating sporty models based on two of its recent concept cars, the GT four-door from the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show (shown above) and the Provo hybrid hatchback that debuted in Geneva last week (inset, right).
"The GT is close to being approved and going into production, but, as with all our cars, they have to be developed on a sound financial footing," Benny Oeyen, Kia Europe's VP of marketing and product planning, told Auto Express. When it debuted, the GT four-door was powered by a turbocharged 3.3-liter V6, reportedly good for 389 horsepower and 394 pound-feet of torque, mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox.
The Provo, on the other hand, could stand as a sort of halo car for the company's B-segment offerings. It would ride on the same front-wheel-drive platform as the Rio compact, though Kia says it's eager to keep the concept's gasoline-electric powertrain intact. "Our brand is currently rational, but there's space for a B-coupe," says Oeyen. Of course, the company would indeed have to look at different naming possibilities for its B-segment coupe, since the week-old Provo is already stirring up some controversy.