Kia Becomes First Korean Car Brand to Win Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) Grand Touring Sport (GTS) and Touring Car A (TC-A) Manufacturer Titles

Parkway Family Kia is very proud of the fact that Kia Motors claimed the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) Grand Touring Sport (GTS) and Touring Car A (TC-A) Manufacturer Championships at the series’ season finale this past weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. On the strength of five pole positions, five race wins and 13 podium finishes during the 16-race PWC season, Kia Racing  and partner Kinetic Motorsports bested teams from Ford, Chevrolet, Porsche, Aston Martin and Nissan making Kia the first Korean brand to earn the coveted title of PWC Champion. “We congratulate the Kia Racing team and our partner Kinetic Motorsports on a fantastic season in which their hard work and dedication, along with the power, performance and reliability of our turbocharged Optimas, proved a winning combination amongst some truly world-class competition,” said Michael Sprague, executive vice president of sales and marketing, Kia Motors America.  “Everyone affiliated with the Kia brand, including our customers, our dealers, our team members at Kia Motors America and at KMMG, the U.S. plant where the Optima is built, should feel proud of this achievement.”In addition to their fast qualifying performances and victorious race results, Kia Racing drivers Mark Wilkins and Nic Jönsson combined to lead more on-track miles than any other manufacturer in the series this year. Wilkins, pilot of the No. 38 B.R.A.K.E.S. Optima turbo, finished the season third in the Driver Championship, scoring two wins and six podiums.  Jönsson, in the No. 36 DonorsChoose.org Optima turbo, finished the season seventh in the Driver Championship with seven podiums, including three wins.Adding to the championship-winning weekend was rookie Jason Wolfe, pilot of the No. 36 Richard Wolfe Trucking Kia Forte Koup, who scored four wins and 10 podium finishes in 2014.  Wolfe’s double-podium result at the Miller doubleheader – including victory in the final round – secured him the PWC Driver Championship in the Touring Car A (TC-A) class as well as Rookie of the Year honors.  Fielded by Kinetic Motorsports, the privateer effort also earned Kia a second PWC Manufacturer Championship. Kia and rival Honda Performance Development finished the year tied in points, but Kia took the title on the strength of its six wins to Honda’s five.  Along the way, Kinetic Motorsports was recognized for their excellence, professionalism and sportsmanship when their fellow TC-A competitors voted them “Crew of the Year.”PWC GTS rounds 15 and 16 at Miller Motorsports Park will be televised on the NBC Sports Network Sunday, September 28, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Highlights are available online at www.world-challengetv.com, and race fans can keep up-to-date with the team via the Kia Racing Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kiaracing and by following along on Twitter: @KiaRacing.x

Kia Soul getting turbo power, possible AWD

Parkway Family Kia realizes that it's been a long time coming, but it appears we might finally see a turbocharged Kia Soul next year. Kia officials reportedly confirmed the hotter Soul to Motor Trend recently, and also stated that the company is (still) investigating the use of all-wheel drive for the next generation of its boxy hatchback.

The turbo Soul will arrive with the same 1.6-liter four-cylinder found in the Forte, rated at 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. According to Motor Trend, Kia wanted to launch the hotter Soul this year, but didn't have the retuned steering or suspension calibration, as well as the larger brakes, ready in time. Transmission pairings weren't discussed, but Kia does mate both its six-speed manual and automatic units to the 1.6T.

As for all-wheel drive, this isn't the first time we've heard reports on this front, and it seems like a pretty natural fit, to us. Adding AWD would allow the Soul to better compete with vehicles like the Nissan Juke and the upcoming Chevy Trax and Jeep Renegade. But as of right now, a four-wheels-driven Soul hasn't been given an official go-ahead.

2015 KIA Forte Earns NHTSA 5-Star Safety Rating

Kia Motors America’s (KMA) second-generation Forte compact sedan has earned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) 5-Star overall safety rating1.  With its long list of standard safety features and extensive use of high-strength steel, the Forte sedan rated 5 stars in the side-impact test and 4 stars in the frontal and rollover tests.  Starting at $15,8902, the Forte offers sport-sedan styling with class-up amenities and appointments at a tremendous value.

“NHTSA’s recent 5-Star rating of the 2015 Forte reinforces Kia’s commitment to safety.  The Forte combines striking design, outstanding quality and the exceptional value our brand is known for with the security of knowing the vehicle you own has performed well in NHTSA’s rigorous crash tests,” said Orth Hedrick, vice president of product planning, KMA. “We are extremely proud of the engineering that went into the second-generation Forte, and NHTSA’s testing has validated that effort with this 5-Star rating.”

Enhancements to the 2015 Forte sedan’s structure include strengthened A-pillars and lower side sills, which helped the popular compact sedan earn the coveted 5-Star overall safety rating.

About the 2015 Forte
Available in LX and EX trims, the 2015 Forte offers fun-to-drive performance, cutting edge technology, several premium amenities and a choice of an efficient 1.8-liter engine (LX) or a more powerful 2.0-liter engine (EX). With an aggressive stance and broad shoulders, the Forte’s modern aesthetic was influenced by European sport sedan styling and penned at Kia’s U.S. design studio in Irvine, California. The Forte represents the heart of KMA’s small-car line-up, slotted between the Rio subcompact sedan and the best-selling Optima midsize sedan, the Forte easily accommodates five passengers and their belongings in the spacious and striking cabin.

The New Kia SOUL EV will plug into Sky DC Fast Chargers, EZ-Charge Network

Parkway Family Kia is waiting with anticipation as Kia gets ready to introduce its first plug-in vehicle to the US market, the 2015 Soul EV, it is also prepping some infrastructure improvements. The company announced today that it is partnering with Greenlots and ABB on offering Greenlots' Sky Smart Charging DC fast chargers at some West Coast Kia dealerships. Greenlots president Brett Hauser told AutoblogGreen that the program will expand to the East Coast in the future.

While we don't yet know all of the monetary details quite yet – Kia says that "pricing structures and incentives" for the new EV will be coming later this month – but it appears that Soul EV buyers will be able to access the EZ-Charge network and there will also be something called a Kia ChargeUp card available. The CHAdeMO-compatible Soul EV is due to arrive in the third quarter of 2014 and the Korean company has high hopes for the car in the US. Take a closer look at the car in this video and read the announcement below.

Greenlots is a San Francisco-based company that is trying to make vehicle charging as easy and open as possible. Last year, it helped with the installation of 13 DC fast chargers in the greater Vancouver, BC area.

Introducing the new Kia Forte!

The Kia Forte and Hyundai Elantra have long followed similar paths, with each available in a four-door sedan, a five-door hatch and (most recently) a two-door coupe bodystyle. The recent death of the Hyundai Elantra Coupe in the US may be threatening to change the narrative on these two affordable compact lines, of course, but the Korean two-doors have a lot in common under their distinct skins. Their most recent iterations came to market under the power of the same 2.0-liter, 173-horsepower four-cylinder paired with six-speed automatic transmissions and riding atop MacPherson strut front suspensions and torsion-beam setups out back. Each arrived weighing between 2,800 and 3,000 pounds and could be had in base form for less than $20,000. Considering this, the empirical performance stats figured to be similar.

There's an important distinction to be made, however. Rather than offer a simple two-door version of a four-door car, like Hyundai did with its Elantra Coupe, Kia has gone to lengths to craft a vehicle with its own unique attitude and attributes. Kia has embraced a sportier stance with its two-door Forte Koup, offering up a standard six-speed manual and going further in an effort to craft a more unique, aggressive coupe design.

That drive to be different was further accentuated last year, when Kia raided Hyundai's parts bin and plucked out the 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the Veloster Turbo. The resulting car is decidedly different than any other Forte we've tested, while also feeling like a better all-around product than the smaller hot hatch it stole its engine from. To see just how much better, we drove the Forte Koup SX for a week and set about seeing how this enhanced model stacks up as a performance offering.