BUYER’SGUIDE: Kia Ceed
THIS year marks 30 years since Kia arrived in the UK, and incredibly, its first car was made just six years before, although the company was founded in 1944 to make steel tubing and bicycle parts.
The brand has grown enormously since that first product, a rebadged Mazda 121 sold here as the Kia Pride, went on sale.
By 2007 Kia had introduced its first car designed specifically for European buyers: the original Cee’d (shorthand for Community of Europe, with European Design), and this was a turning point, although the Cee’d Mk2 was a far more impressive product.
Indeed, it was so good that when the Mk3 arrived, in many ways it wasn’t a huge advance, although a range of more efficient powerplants and plenty of the latest tech brought the Ceed usefully up to date.
History
THE Mk3 arrived in August 2018, powered by 117bhp 1.0-litre and 136bhp 1.4-litre T-GDi petrol units, or a 113/133bhp 1.6 CRDi
