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Provo concept name has Kia embroiled in terrorism controversy?

In the relatively lengthy press release that Kia composed for the launch of its Provo concept car at the Geneva Motor Show this week, the company never mentioned where the name came from, or what it means for the car. A very basic web search for "Provo" reveals that the inspiration for the hatch could have been a city in Utah, a township in South Dakota or a village in Bosnia. The name could be a reference to either an American (Fred) or Canadian (Dwayne) football player, and Provo might also accurately reference a "Dutch counterculture movement in the mid-1960s" or a ship in the US Navy. More likely than any of those, however, is that the Kia designers of the concept - a car that was wholly a product of the Korean automaker's design studios in Frankfurt, for the record - meant it as a play on the existing Pro_cee'd hatchback.
What the designers and Kia executives that signed off on the Provo almost certainly did not have in mind was a reference to a street name for the Provisional Irish Republican Army. That "Provo" was, according to TheDetroitBureau.com, an outlawed army faction that was blamed for some 2,000 deaths in Northern Ireland during a period stretching from 1970 to 1997.
And yet, it was that association that led Gregory Campbell, a member of parliament from Northern Ireland, to introduce legislation that would ban Kia from selling a car under the name Provo. Kia, quick to realize the sizable gaffe it has stumbled into with the name, has reportedly already promised not to use the name for a production vehicle.

LeBron James to rep Kia K900

"I was a Kia K900 driver and fan before we decided to become partners, so I'm really excited to be Kia's first-ever luxury ambassador." - LeBron James
LeBron James is taking his talents to Kia.

U.S. Senate panel wants Hyundai, Kia to testify about engine fires

WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee's Republican chairman and ranking Democrat said on Wednesday they had asked top U.S. executives at Hyundai and Kia to testify at a Nov. 14 hearing on reports of engine fires involving vehicles from the Korean automakers. The call to testify comes after safety advocates raised concerns about fires in vehicles not involved in collisions. The nonprofit consumer advocacy group Center for Auto Safety said last week that 103 fire complaints had been filed with U.S. safety regulators since June 12 and urged an immediate recall of nearly 3 million vehicles. Hyundai said in a statement it had received the request to appear "and is currently reviewing it." The company added it "actively monitors and evaluates potential safety concerns, including non-collision fires, with all of its vehicles and acts swiftly to recall any vehicles with safety-related defects." Kia did not comment. Shares of Hyundai Motor fell as much as 3.8 percent in Seoul trading on Thursday. Kia Motors stock also slid 3.7 percent, while the wider market was down 0.6 percent as of 0232 GMT. In May 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, opened a formal investigation into the recall of nearly 1.7 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles over engine defects. A South Korean whistleblower in 2016 reported concerns to NHTSA, which has been probing the timeliness of three recalls carried out in the United States and whether they covered enough vehicles. Sen. Bill Nelson, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, said a non-collision fire death had been reported last year in a 2014 Kia Soul. "We've got to get to the bottom of what's causing these fires," Nelson said in a statement Wednesday. "Car owners need to know if their vehicles are safe." The letter to the automakers, also signed by Sen. John Thune, who chairs the committee, said the hearing will also "examine efforts to mitigate vehicle fires and promptly identify and respond to defects that may pose a fire risk" and invites the chief executives of Hyundai and Kia's U.S. units to testify or their designee. In 2015, Hyundai recalled 470,000 U.S. Sonata sedans, saying engine failure would result in a vehicle stall, increasing the risk of a crash. At that time, affiliate Kia did not recall its vehicles, which share the same "Theta II" engines. In March 2017, Hyundai expanded its original U.S.