Kia has confirmed it will double-down on its passenger-car offerings over the next few years, releasing replacements for its Picanto supermini and Cerato small cars through to the next decade.
Charged with keeping the brand firmly within their respective sub-$20,000 and sub-$30,000 categories, they will continue playing important supporting roles to the more-expensive crossovers and SUVs like the Stonic, Seltos, Sportage and Sorento that have helped push Kia to the number three spot this year.
According to Kia Motors Australia (KMAu) Chief Executive Officer, Damien Meredith, it proves that Kia is focused on keeping in touch with the vast number of buyers that might otherwise struggle to afford a new car.
“I can assure you that at least in the next decade there will be passenger vehicles in our line-up,” he told journalists in Sydney last week.
“Our small passenger cars – Picanto, Rio, Cerato – formed our foundation for our growth. They kept us going as new product came into the areas we didn’t yet have (models in).
“So, it’s been really important to us, and specifically Picanto and Cerato will continue to be important to us. We are pretty confident that both will continue to sell reasonably well over a long period of time. They’re not going anywhere.
“One of our great strengths is, where other manufacturers deserted segments, we keep plugging away in those areas.
“We were number one in the passenger car market last month, and still are year-to-date.”
Right now, the Picanto is the cheapest new car in Australia, starting from $16,290 before on-road costs for the base S grade with a manual gearbox, and $17,890 when the automatic transmission is added.
Importantly, it is also the only new vehicle under $20,000 with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), as the remaining two contenders – the existing (and best-selling) MG3 from China and Suzuki Ignis from Japan – do not offer this desirable driver-assist safety technology, even as an option.
The Kia’s low pricing strategy will continue with only minimal rises when the extensively facelifted MY24 Picanto surfaces later this year. That car will take an added role for KMAu, since the Rio supermini has been discontinued with no successor in sight.
Moreover, both the MG3 and Ignis are likely to be phased out within the next 18 months due to their advancing years (first seeing the light of day in 2011 and 2015 respectively) and with no direct replacements announced or expected, Kia is expected to reap the reward of being the sole supplier to a hungry new-car market.
The exodus in the sub-$20K market since 2020 has been profound, with major players like the Toyota Yaris, Mazda2, Hyundai Accent, Honda Jazz, Suzuki Baleno, Suzuki Swift, Mitsubishi Mirage, Skoda Fabia, Renault Clio, VW Polo and – yes – the Rio having either vanished or rocketed up towards $25,000 and beyond.
In the Rio’s case, the cessation of right-hand-drive production in the next-generation model has been behind its annulment.
Likewise, the Cerato’s future had been under the cloud, as the existing model will be the last to be made in South Korea and its completely different replacement likely to be out of Mexico for global consumption.
However, we understand that the Cerato’s successor – which will also supplant the European-market Ceed – will take on a new look and identity when it arrives in Australia in 2025 and may even drop the decades-old nameplate as a result. Watch this space.
While Meredith takes most of his competitors to task for not providing truly affordable new cars for Australians, he did single out MG as a smart mover and shaker in this market.
“I think they’ve done a great job, and you’ve got to be respectful of all competition,” he admitted. “Their growth has been done with limited models, and they’ve been very successful. Like anything, if a segment or market space opens up, they’ve gone in there and filled that space very well.
“In the passenger space, you saw Mazda and Toyota move up dramatically, we pushed up a little bit, and there was a pricing space there and they filled it.
“(But) Picanto will be there (for us) for a long time.”
Keyword: The cheap Kia cars are still coming, and they will stay affordable while Toyota, Ford, Mazda, MGs and others price themselves into premium territory