2008 Kia Rio5 Lx 4-door on 2040-cars

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Kia's Imagine concept is a high-riding, electric sedan

Kia released teaser images of its Geneva-bound concept car late last month. The one detail that stayed with us the most was the fact that the futuristic dashboard consisted of 21 small screens side by side. Kia was in on the joke, calling it a "humorous riposte" to the industry's obsession with implementing screens. But the rest of the concept car, shown today, is no joke. The ' Imagine by Kia' concept is a swoopily shaped, somewhat muscular, high-riding, all-electric sedan with suicide doors, which might or might not introduce some interesting new design themes for future Kias. There's a new logo, which is far more stylish than the existing one, and the front features a LED DRL arrangement that frames the headlights like the car wore stylish glasses. It's a bit like the Saab 9-5 "Dame Edna" facelift, but far better realized, and the "Tiger Mask" Kia front end treatment has been developed further. The roof and the windscreen are a single piece of glass, in the style of the Tesla Model 3, and the Imagine also features a frunk in addition to the trunk. But the concept is far taller than the Model 3 and more aggressively shaped, riding on 22-inch alloy wheels with acrylic glass inserts and with bespoke Goodyear tires and featuring sharp strakes on the curvy bodywork. The paintwork is said to consist of six hand-applied layers of chrome-effect paint with a bronze tint on top. And about those tires: they themselves are a Goodyear concept, called IntelliGrip, which means they detect and convey road conditions to the car and driver and adjust handling attributes accordingly. Related Video:

Kia's regionally inspired concepts converge on Las Vegas [w/poll]

Kia has, over the past couple of weeks, been steadily streaming an array of concept cars it's prepared for SEMA this year. But with the doors now open at the Las Vegas Convention Center, it's now released the full monte – so to speak – including one we hadn't seen before at all. The lineup takes a geographic approach, each representing a different region in this great country of ours, and each is based on a different model in the company's product line. Arguably the most outlandish is the A1A Optima. The sedan has been converted into a four-door convertible, taking its name and inspiration from the coastal highway in Florida. The project was carried out by Lux Motorwerks, which reinforced the Optima's bodywork for the chop job, fitted suicide rear doors, and painted it a bright shade of turquoise. It rides on 20-inch HRE alloys, with an interior trimmed out in cream leather and titanium accents. A coilover suspension drops it down to the tarmac, and a new exhaust system helps with the turbo four's sound. Next up is the PacWest Adventure Sorento, inspired by the Pacific Northwest with a woodsy approach. The Sorento crossover has been customized by LGE-CTS Motorsports with a candy-effect green paint job and matte black trim, tubular bumpers, a raised suspension, off-road tires, a snorkel for fording streams, and a pop-up tent on the roof. They're joined by the Photo Safari Sedona, which is a new addition we hadn't seen until now. The minivan has been thoroughly transformed into a rolling observation point for shutterbugs in the wild. The rear section has been converted into a pickup bed, the seats have been swapped out for deploying buckets to get closer to the action, and the whole thing rides on an air suspension with off-road tires on 17-inch wheels. It's even got an iMac workstation on board for processing photos. In short, it's everything you could want to embark on a photographic adventure in the Northeast – or anywhere else for that matter. Finally there's the Mud Bogger, a Forte Koup inspired by the South. It's jacked up four inches on an off-road suspension, with an open rollback vinyl roof to let in the elements. The bodywork has been painted a deep shade of blue, offset by the white powder-coated roll cage, brush guards, and wheels. And the interior has been stripped out and fitted with Sparco racing seats. Kia has also brought the Ballast Point Sedona back to the show this year.

Kia plans dedicated PHEV by year’s end, battery-electric crossover in 2021

Back in January, Kia announced something it called its “Plan S” strategy. The $25 billion plan broadly outlines its targets for electric vehicles, with the highlight being plans to sell 11 battery-electric models by the end of 2025, including launching its first dedicated new EV here in the U.S. in 2021. Now we have some new details on what the Korean automaker has in mind for the latter, plus a juicy new tidbit about a new plug-in hybrid coming later this year. It comes via a scripted Earth Day video message between Neil Dunlop, product and technology PR manager, whoÂ’s shown wandering around a forest, and Steve Kosowski, manager of KiaÂ’s long-range strategy, product strategy and mobility, whoÂ’s quarantined at home. Kosowski calls Plan S “a preemptive shift” away from being a traditional manufacturer of combustion vehicles to one focused on electric vehicles, electrified vehicles and mobility. First up will be a dedicated new PHEV model coming to the U.S. by yearÂ’s end. There are no real details offered, but Kosowski brings up the HabaNiro crossover and Imagine concepts as examples of KiaÂ’s design excellence and innovation. The brand has already said the Imagine will go into production within one or two years, but it was never clear whether the “large C-segment car,” as they described it, would make it here. Imagine by Kia Concept View 12 Photos More is said about KiaÂ’s first dedicated EV model, due here by the end of 2021 — possibly earlier in other markets — and riding on a dedicated new EV platform. “ItÂ’s a crossover design that really blurs the line between passenger cars, CUVs, crossovers, itÂ’s a little bit car, a little bit crossover,” Kosowski says. It will have a range of about 300 miles and sub-20-minute fast-charging time. “In the end it will be a very stunning, dramatic new Kia EV, something that youÂ’ve never seen before.” The range figure squares with what Kia advertised with the HabaNiro concept, which it unveiled at the 2019 New York Auto Show, while the automaker has described both it and the Imagine as blurring traditional vehicle segment lines. Both concepts will doubtless lose some of their more fanciful elements — bye bye, HabaNiro's lava red interior — on the way to production, however. Kia is developing a new EV platform that it will share with Hyundai.