KIA Expands to Two Wheel Range ...

[csv8]

"NICE ride". You could expect glowing tributes when cruising around with the latest Kia.

And even better, you'll have the environmentally friendly transport and change from $2000.

The man who has spearheaded groovy design changes for the South Korean brand has turned his hand to bicycles.

Kia chief designer officer Peter Screyer has produced the two new bicycles in conjunction with Korean bicycle manufacturing company, Samchully. The project took 13 months of research and development under Peter's design direction.

According to Kia's official blog, "The K Velo is available in two different versions: CITY, which has convenience features such as 11 gears, a basket and fenders while the SPEED version features lighter interrupters and bike weight. Their clean and simple aerodynamic profiles are complemented with striking details, offering stylish functionality in any urban setting.

"Both bikes were developed to meet the rising demand for sustainable and portable transportation, especially in urban areas. The production of these bicycles is an attempt to motivate our customers to give greater consideration to the environment by using bikes for short distance journeys."

The inspiration for the bikes came from Kia's historic ties with bicycle building.

Back in 1944 Kia Motor was known as Kyungsung Precision Industries and was steel tubing and handmade bicycle parts manufacturer.

The bicycles are available on the Kia Brand Collection page www.shop-kia.com, but are currently only available in Korea at this time - CITY is priced at about $1500 and SPEED at $1100.

[4DBOSS]

they are really moving forward and getting into everything

[2011G6E]

I remember being quite surprised when I found out just how wide the manufacturing base of Hyundai is...I was reading some industry magazines back in the 1990's at my last job and saw shipworks, military manufacturing, airplanes, and all sorts of equipment.
I also saw Hyundai pistols in a magazine a few years back.

I don't think Australians have any idea how big some of those companies are in Korea, and what a small part of them is the car making bit...

[csv8]

2011G6E..Off Topic..would you like this Hyundai?
The K1 is a South Korean main battle tank in use with the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, developed by Hyundai Precision (later Hyundai Rotem).[2] The vehicle's early design work was based on General Dynamics' M1 Abrams, with some noticeable differences including a combined system of hydropneumatic suspension and torsion bars, and a river-crossing fording kit, to meet the required operational capability that was specific to combat operations in the mountainous and swampy terrain of the Korean Peninsula.[2] The K1A1 entered service in 1999, upgraded with a 120mm smoothbore gun, and outfitted with more modern electronics, ballistic computers, and fire control systems developed by Samsung Electronics.[2] Hyundai Rotem produced 1,511 K1 and K1A1 tanks between 1985 and 2010.

[mike_nofx]

An electric bike... What will they think of next.

[Franco Cozzo]

Hyundai also do generators, air compressors, petrol chain saws etc.

Daewoo Heavy Industries makes this:

[nstg8a]

It's not just Kia...

But I hope the electronics are more reliable than on my bike.

[Buntz]

It's a good thing they made this bike. Now their chassis engineers don't have to take the bus everywhere.