PREVIEW: 2018 Kia Rio 5-Door Makes Canadian Debut - 2017 Montreal International Auto Show

• feature Kia Canada's first available embedded telematics system – free for the first five years
• achieve a more balanced stance with a long bonnet, longer front overhang and shorter rear overhang and be 15 mm longer and 5 mm lower
• have more shoulder room and capacity in the second row and cargo area
• be one of the safest cars in its class, using 32% more Advanced High Strength Steel than before
• feature standard heated steering wheel, heated front seats, and 5" display audio with rearview camera

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Jan. 19, 2017- Today at the Montreal International Auto Show, Kia took a strong stance against the everyday when it unveiled the all-new 2018 Kia Rio 5-door for the first time in Canada. Now entering its fourth generation, the new Rio was designed and engineered to deliver an athletic stance, enhanced comfort and dynamic performance all wrapped in a bold new style. It also incorporates leading edge technology, including Kia Canada's first-ever embedded telematics system – available free for the first five years.  

"The all-new Kia Rio 5-door will be one of the safest cars in its class and will offer Canadians what they typically don't get in the B segment - a vehicle with striking design, fun driving dynamics and advanced technology," said Ted Lancaster, VP & COO, Kia Canada Inc. "With our first ever embedded telematics system free for the first five years, we're confident that Kia has once again raised the bar in the industry."  

The all-new 2018 Kia Rio 5-door will be manufactured at Kia's Sohari manufacturing facility in Korea and will be available in Canadian dealerships this summer. Pricing will be announced closer to the vehicle's launch date.

About the all-new 2018 Kia Ria 5-door

Exterior design: Defined by straight lines and smooth surfaces

The Rio 5-door's progressive new exterior and interior design was led by Kia's design centres in Germany and California, in close collaboration with the company's domestic design base in Namyang, Korea. The appearance of the new Rio is defined by straight lines and smooth surfacing, giving the car a distinctive new look and more mature character than its predecessor.

At the front, the Rio 5-door wears the latest evolution of Kia's 'tiger-nose' grille, now thinner in height and wider across the front of the car, with a gloss black grille cover. The grille is integrated with the newly-designed bi-function headlamps, more sculpted for a sharper look, and featuring an available new U-shaped LED light signature. The front fog lamp surrounds are moved outwards and upwards in the front bumper compared to their position on the third-generation model, adding greater visual width to the front of the car for a stronger overall look. The longer bonnet features bracket-shaped creases that run down from the base of the A-pillars to the grille and headlamps.

In profile, the fourth-generation Rio 5-door's  lengthened, more balanced stance is achieved with a long bonnet and longer front overhang, a 10 mm longer wheelbase (up to 2,580 mm), a thinner, more upright C-pillar, and a shorter rear overhang. Overall, the new car is 15 mm longer than its predecessor, at 4,065 mm in length, and 5 mm lower (now 1,450 mm tall). Straight, clearly-defined lines run down the full length of the car's shoulder and along its doors, further stretching the appearance of the car for a more confident look.

The rear section of the Rio 5-door is now more upright, with a near-vertical rear windscreen and a shorter overhang. The straight line that runs from the grille, through the headlamps and along the top of the doors, continues around the back of the car, paired with thinner, more sculpted rear lamps, which now feature a new available arrow-shaped LED light signature. Like the wider-looking 'face' of the car, the rear design of the new Rio 5-door gives the car a stronger overall appearance.

Interior design: Modern cabin with new floating HMI

The new Kia Rio 5-door features a modern new cabin, with more sculptural forms and a more ergonomic layout than its predecessor. The interior has also been designed to accommodate the Rio's new range of technologies.

Like the exterior, straight lines running the width of the dashboard characterize the shape of the interior, giving the cabin a wider appearance and increasing the sense of space for occupants. As well as long, lateral lines that govern the shape of the dashboard, horizontal vents further add to the visual width of the cabin, replacing the vertical vents of the third-generation model. Gloss black trim lines the central section of the dashboard.

The dashboard itself is now angled towards the driver, a layout which provides the car with a sportier, more driver-focused design and a more premium character. Below, the driver-oriented centre console features more ergonomic, concave switches and rotator dials below to control the heating and ventilation.

The Rio 5-door will come in black cloth or leather interior.

Designed to improve comfort and convenience for owners, new technologies further boost the appeal of the Rio's cabin, with standard heated steering wheel and standard heated front seats, Available features include Autonomous Emergency Braking, Leather seats, 17" alloy wheels, sunroof and much more.

Practicality: Greater cabin and cargo space, with improved all-round visibility

The Rio 5-door will have one of the most spacious cabins and one of the highest cargo capacities (493 litres) of any car in its class when it goes on sale, with practicality a key focus for the Rio's development and engineering teams.

The Rio's 10 mm-longer wheelbase and 15mm-longer body contribute to larger cabin and cargo dimensions. Rear leg room grows to 850 mm, while the new model offers more shoulder room than most other cars in its class – 1,375 mm in the front and 1,355 in the rear.

The Rio 5-door's cabin offers more storage space than before. At the base of the centre console is an open double tray to store mobile devices and other small items, and the overhead console includes an area to store sunglasses. The glove compartment is also a single-box shape. The new Rio 5-door has bottle holders in every door and two larger cupholders in the front. The doors also feature closed-bottom storage holes in the door handles, useful for small items such as a phone or coins. An optional armrest is available, adding further storage capacity to the cabin.

Luggage capacity has also increased by 68 litres to 493 litres - extra space that has been achieved in spite of the Rio's rear overhang being shortened by 15 mm to 655 mm, a key element of the car's new design. The new Rio 5-door features a split-level boot floor, which enables owners to change the height of the trunk floor to fit items underneath and prevent them from  rolling around, or to keep them out of sight. The Rio is fitted as standard with split-folding rear seats and a tire mobility kit under the trunk floor.

The fuel tank, which is located under the rear bench, is 45 litres in size, two litres larger than the earlier model.

Powertrain: Enhanced fuel economy and better acceleration

The new Kia Rio 5-door will be powered by a naturally-aspirated 1.6-litre gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine, offering high efficiency and willing acceleration. The updated engine will produce 130 horsepower at 6,300 rpm and 118 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,850 rpm greater low to mid-range acceleration.  Power will be delivered to the front wheels, either through a standard six-speed manual transmission or via an optional six-speed automatic transmission.

Safety: ADAS assistive technologies

The new Rio 5-door will be one of the safest cars in its class when it goes on sale, available with a package of Kia's Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Built on a high-strength steel body, it features a wide array of passive safety equipment. This car is engineered to meet the most demanding crash safety test criteria around the world.

Targeting a Top safety Pick+ IIHS crash safety rating when fitted with optional ADAS technology, the Rio 5-door will be one of the first cars in the B-segment to feature Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB). The AEB system uses a long-range radar detection system to detect potential collisions with other vehicles and helps bring the car to a halt*.

The bodyshell of the new Rio 5-door is made up of a significant proportion of Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS). Using 32 per cent more than the current model, the extensive use of AHSS in the body is part of a wider effort by Kia to achieve a five per cent reduction in the average weight of new car bodies by 2020 when compared to 2014, while enabling greater safety and security.

The higher application of AHSS has strengthened the passenger cabin 'cell' for greater occupant safety and more effective distribution of impact forces. The stronger steel has been used to reinforce the A- and B-pillars, as well as side sills, roof structure, engine bay and floor pan.

The new Rio 5-door is fitted with six airbags throughout the cabin, as well as LATCH child-seat tether and anchor points for front and rear passenger seats.

Driving: More engaging and stable handling with a comfortable ride

As well as being incredibly safe to drive, the new Rio 5-door seeks to build on the level of driver engagement offered by the third-generation model. Kia's chassis development teams have sought to introduce greater driving appeal, with more agile and immediate handling, while improving ride comfort. The Rio sits on a MacPherson strut front suspension and a torsion beam rear axle.

The development of a stiffer bodyshell gave R&D teams the freedom to develop a more compliant suspension system. The new Rio 5-door benefits from a revised spring and damper set-up than the outgoing model, improving the car's compliance and comfort at all speeds, while facilitating the car's more enjoyable, engaging handling characteristics.

Compared to the third-generation model, the modifications to the Rio 5-door's chassis include: more rigid front suspension struts and cross member and a raised rear torsion beam for high-speed stability; the adoption of new vertical rear shock absorbers and front shock absorbers with pre-loaded linear valve technology, both resulting in more linear handling and suspension response over broken road surfaces; and a repositioned power steering gearbox, to enable greater 'on-centre' feel through the steering wheel. The changes to the chassis are designed to endow the vehicle with more immediate handling responses and improve the level of confidence that the driver has behind the wheel.

The new Rio 5-door is also fitted with Kia's Vehicle Stability Management (VSM) with Electronic Stability Control (ESC). VSM ensures stability under braking and cornering, detecting a loss in traction and using ESC to help the driver keep the car on course.

Connectivity: full Android and Apple smartphone integration

At the centre of the dashboard is the new infotainment system, housing Kia's latest human-machine interface, with a standard 5 inch or available 7 inch touchscreen that supports Android Auto™ and Apple CarPlay™ for full smartphone integration.

The Rio's available Android Auto™ connects to the user's phone and lets them access smartphone apps and functions through the in-car infotainment system, such as voice-guided Google Maps navigation, hands-free calls and texts and voice recognition. Android Auto™ also lets users stream music from Google Play Music™ and other services.

Available Apple CarPlay™, for iPhone 5 or newer, will enable full Siri voice control to control the phone's various functions and apps, including navigation via Apple Maps, calls and text dictation. Apple CarPlay™ also supports other audio apps that the user may have downloaded to their iPhone – such as music streaming or audiobook services.

Kia Canada's first Embedded Telematics

When the all-new Rio goes on sale, it will be the first car in Kia's Canadian lineup to feature a brand new embedded telematics system. Available on select trims and free for the first five years, this system will turn the Rio into a fully connected device and will provide Remote Service, Safety and Security and Vehicle Relationship Management services to enhance the driver experience well beyond what is expected in this segment.  

About Kia Canada Inc.
Kia Canada Inc. (www.kia.ca – www.facebook.com/kiacanada), a maker of quality vehicles for the young-at-heart is a subsidiary of Kia Motors Corporation (KMC) which was founded in 1999 and sells and services high quality, class leading vehicles like the Soul, Forte, Optima and Sorento through a network of 189 dealers nationwide. Kia Canada Inc. employs 154 people in its Mississauga, Ontario headquarters and four regional offices across Canada, including a state-of-the-art facility in Montreal. Kia's brand slogan "The Power to Surprise" represents the company's global commitment to surprise the world by providing exciting & inspiring experiences that go beyond expectations.