We noted last year that Kia’s Novo Concept (pictured above) could presage the brand’s entry into the four-door coupe segment. At the time, we suggested that the car “could give the Mazda 3 and the Volkswagen Golf a real run for their money among style-minded customers.” But it looks as though Kia’s aiming beyond the Mazda 3 with its next foray into a new arena. Its sights are set on BMW’s venerable 3-series.
According to a report in Automotive News, a new sedan, codenamed “CK,” is slated for production in May of 2017, meaning we’ll likely see a near-production or full-on production version this fall auto-show circuit, perhaps either at the Paris or Los Angeles auto shows. L.A. would make sense, given that it’s practically the BMW’s natural habitat, and Southern California is Kia’s U.S. home.
Like the 3, the Kia will be rear-drive, making it the second RWD machine produced by the company after the rather coolly received K900 luxobarge. With Hyundai’s Genesis brand aiming for the luxosphere, Kia sees sporty style as the way forward. Allegedly, the new sport sedan will offer 2.0-, 2.2-, and 3.0-liter powerplants, presumably putting it roughly in line with BMW’s non-M models in terms of power output.
Kia is said to be targeting volume of 60,000 examples a year, moving some Rio production to Mexico to make room for South Korean production of the new entry. Success, of course, depends on price, style, and did we mention price? Kia has done much over the past decade to shed its bargain-basement image, but taking on the 3-series is a bold move that demands a combination of attributes that nobody’s yet been able to pull together, even as BMW has been removing the attributes that once made its sports sedan a perennial 10Best winner.
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