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Kia and LeBron going biblical with K900 King James Edition

Kia looks poised to reveal a new special K900 sedan after its celebrity spokesman and NBA baller LeBron James revealed this image on his Facebook page. There's little to be discerned from the tightly cropped image, but judging from the badge it depicts and the accompanying #K900, it seems like we'll be looking at a special edition of the Korean automaker's flagship sedan called the King James Edition - an apparent play on the King James Version of the bible and LeBron's last name. The special sedan appears to wear a red and black color scheme that we wouldn't be surprised to see extend beyond the side grille to other blacked-out trim pieces (like the wheels, front grilles, mirrors, badges and window surround), but we'll have to wait for Kia to reveal the full thing to say for sure. We may not have to wait very long, though, as the other accompanying hashtag seems to suggest it could debut at the All-Star game taking place this weekend.

Kia confirms $1B factory in Mexico to be completed in 2016

Kia is the latest in a string of automakers to announce plans to build new or expanded factories in Mexico. The Korean company has signed a $1 billion deal to establish a plant in Monterrey in the state of Nuevo León, with construction starting in late September. If everything proceeds on schedule, the facility should be complete in the first half of 2016 and be able to produce 300,000 vehicles a year.
The $1-billion investment will create a "new, highly automated manufacturing plant," according to Kia's announcement, a facility covering 1,235 acres of land. Confirming earlier rumors, Kia will produce compact models there, but the company won't reveal specific model names, just yet. When complete, the factory in Mexico will boost the automaker's annual capacity to 3.37 million vehicles a year with 1.69 million of those in Korea and 1.68 million abroad. It will also join Kia's plant in Georgia (where the Optima and Sorento are made) as the business' other North American location.
Kia hasn't kept plans for the Mexican factory a very close secret and openly admitted it was "being considered as a possible location" to Autoblog. The country was chosen partially because of its free-trade agreements (read: NAFTA), that make it less costly to move models elsewhere, not to mention its easy access to the North, Central and South American markets. The new plant should also alleviate some of the tight supply issues Kia has had in the US.

2019 Kia K900 flagship sedan debuts: Reserved luxury reimagined

After those teasers and brochure shots, the 2019 Kia K900 flagship sedan is here in the metal, presented at the New York Auto Show. Kia reminds us that the only thing carried over from the old car is the name, but the car's design is still reserved rather than ostentatious. The information withheld in Kia's K900 news to date was the available powertrain, but it's now announced to have the same 3.3-liter twin turbo V6 as the Stinger. It produces 365 horsepower and 376 pound-feet of torque, and it's paired to an eight-speed, homegrown automatic transmission like in the Stinger. The V6 is the sole engine choice, and likewise the K900 has torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive as standard. The previous generation car was rear-drive, and the Stinger has rear-drive variants, but for the new K900 it's AWD all the way. The system can distribute up to 50 percent of power to the front and as much as 80 percent to the rear. Kia performance chief Albert Biermann says the new K900 is 33 percent stiffer than the outgoing car, for improved ride and handling. In its home market, the K900 will reportedly be available with a five-liter V8, but that's not part of the U.S. portfolio. Inside, the K900's cocoon-like leather and wood interior ambience can be enhanced with its Pantone-assisted mood lighting system. There are seven color settings, which are meant to convey the feel of oceans, forests, skies — and presets can even imitate the aurora borealis. Another feature of the interior lighting is that proximity sensors can brighten the dashboard controls by 20 percent when the driver reaches for the switches. The 12.3-inch HMI touchscreen supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the car's settings can be toggled using a bespoke UVO telematics system. Four cameras provide the driver with a stitched-together 360-degree view of the car's surroundings, and HUD is an option. Driver assists include smart cruise control with lane functions and a driver fatigue monitoring system. In addition to the K900, Kia is also introducing the refreshed-for-2019 Optima and Sedona. The facelifted Optima now comes with optional two-tone sport leather seats, and it shares some of the K900's driver assist systems as standard: collision avoidance and warning, lane keeping assist and driver fatigue monitoring.