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Kia slices K900 pricing amidst slow sales

Kia is learning the same hard lesson that Volkswagen learned so many years ago – it's not easy for a volume brand to sell a luxury car. The K900 luxury sedan has suffered through slow sales, moving just over 1,300 vehicles last year, and now the South Korean company is trimming the cost of entry to entice consumers. A new K900 Premium lowers the sedan's price by $5,000, from $59,500 to $54,500, not including a $900 destination charge, Motor Authority reports. While the price is lower, previously standard items, such as LED headlights, Nappa leather and a 17-speaker Lexicon stereo have been packaged as part of a new Luxury trim, which will maintain the original starting price. The two-tier scheme will force consumers to make a new decision about their K900, but that won't extend to the brute under the hood. A 5.0-liter V8 remains a standard item, making even the K900 Premium a tempting option for anyone that values straight-line thrust in a comfortable package. What are your thoughts? Is Kia merely rearranging the deck chairs on a sedan-shaped Titanic, or do you think trimming the price will do some good for the slow-selling K900? The new price is already reflected on Kia's consumer website, so head over, mess about and then come back and have your say about the move in Comments.

US expands probe into ZF-TRW airbag failure-to-deploy to 12.3 million vehicles

DETROIT — U.S. auto safety regulators have expanded an investigation into malfunctioning airbag controls to include 12.3 million vehicles because the bags may not inflate in a crash. The problem could be responsible for as many as eight deaths. Vehicles made by Toyota, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Fiat Chrysler from the 2010 through 2019 model years are included in the probe, which was revealed Tuesday in documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It involves airbag control units made by ZF-TRW that were installed in the vehicles. The control units can fail in a crash, possibly because of unwanted electrical signals produced by the crash itself that can disable an air bag control circuit housed in the passenger compartment, according to NHTSA documents. The electrical signals can damage the control circuit, the documents say. ZF, a German auto parts maker which acquired TRW Automotive in 2015, said in a statement that it's committed to safety and is cooperating with NHTSA and automakers in the investigation. The case is another in a long list of problems with auto industry airbags, including faulty and potentially deadly Takata airbag inflators. At least 24 people have been killed worldwide and more than 200 injured by the inflators, which can explode with too much force and hurl dangerous shrapnel into the passenger cabin. The inflators touched off the largest series of automotive recalls in U.S. history involving with as many as 70 million inflators to be recalled by the end of next year. About 100 million inflators are to be recalled worldwide. On April 19, NHTSA upgraded the ZF-TRW probe from a preliminary evaluation to an engineering analysis, which is a step closer toward seeking recalls. So far, only Hyundai and Kia and Fiat Chrysler have issued recalls in the case. Four deaths that may have been caused by the problem were reported in Hyundai-Kia vehicles and three in Fiat Chrysler automobiles. NHTSA opened an investigation in March of 2017 involving the TRW parts in Hyundais and Kias. The upgrade came after investigators found two recent serious crashes involving 2018 and 2019 Toyota Corollas in which the airbags did not inflate. One person was killed. Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit consumer group, said the ZF-TRW case shows the auto industry thus far has learned very little from Takata.

Kia GT to debut in Paris, production in 2017

After years of waiting, the Kia GT four-door coupe (concept pictured above) could finally debut in production guise at the Paris Motor Show in October, and the brand would start making it in 2017, according to Autocar. The South Korean automaker could also create a hotter variant of the pint-sized Rio in 2018 to give the lineup a dash more performance. Kia debuted the rear-wheel drive GT concept at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, and the svelte four-door offered some speed thanks to a 3.3-liter turbocharged V6 with 389 horsepower and 394 pound-feet of torque and an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Kia seemed primed to build the model several times over the years as a US-focused vehicle, but the latest report hinted that production wouldn't happen until 2017. Autocar claims that the final design incorporates cues from the sporty GT4 Stinger concept. Kia also intends to introduce performance-oriented models with the GT moniker lower in its range. According to Autocar, the Rio GT would ride on the vehicle's lighter next-gen platform and offer about 180 horsepower from a 1.6-liter engine to compete against the Ford Fiesta ST, which already has 197 hp. However, the South Korean automaker might want to consider a more potent powerplant to keep up in the hot hatch arms race, because spy shots already suggest the Blue Oval's development of a Fiesta RS with around 250 hp. Related Video: Featured Gallery Kia GT Concept: Frankfurt 2011 View 13 Photos News Source: AutocarImage Credit: Copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / AOL Design/Style Rumormill Paris Motor Show Kia Hatchback Concept Cars Performance Sedan 2016 paris motor show kia rio kia gt kia gt concept