As 2011 auto show fever has allowed the temperature to warm on the automobile industry climate on North America and Europe continent, the Asian continent will next play host to the several major car exhibits in Seoul, South Korea and later in Shanghai, China.
A region in desperate need for some innocent, momentary diversion from the Earthquake and Tsunami destruction in Japanese, the look at a more optimistic road ahead is provided through the auto show. With new and concept vehicles ready for presentation at the 2011 Seoul Auto Show, Kia Motors is utilizing their home market to debut a new design concept called the Naimo.
Measuring 153.15 inches in total length, the Kia Naimo Concept treads closely to a design previous unveiled at the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Like the Kia KV7 concept, the Kia Naimo is an exercise in interior space optimization within a compact car form. Featuring a bug-eyed front-end appearance, the absence of grille openings denotes the fact the Kia Naimo utilizes a full electric powertrain. LED lighting is integrated throughout the Naimo exterior formulated into a series of small dots along the front, lower fascia.
Blending almost seamlessly into the body paneling of the Kia Naimo, LEDs also shape the lighting found on the 3-piece opening rear tailgate. Topped by a wrap around windshield and a multi-window roof, optimal visibility and natural lighting is presented for the occupants of the Naimo.
Decked out in seats similar in colour and design furnishing the KV7 concept cabin, the Kia Naimo’s four-passenger seating embodies a space-saving quality. Along with the seats, interior design minimizes control panel for multimedia access into a small center console. The driver of the Kia Naimo looks forward high dashboard-mounted transparent gauges providing a heads-up display effect without the need of a projector.
An all-electric concept car, the Kia Naimo is said to be one of the prototypes joining a multitude of evaluation vehicles to be tested by the auto company. Bringing the Naimo to live, an 80-kilowatt permanent magnet synchronous electric motor musters the Kia Naimo up to speeds of 93 miles per hour.
Offering a maximum range of 124 miles on a single charge, the twin-pack lithium ion batteries can be quick charged to 80 percent capacity in only 25 minutes. A normal cycle full charge of the Kia Naimo is said to take a more patient 5 ½ hours.
It almost goes without mentioning, Kia Motors is enjoying a wild ride to automotive notoriety lately. In the United States, the beginning for 2011 has been a period of enormous sales growth. In the first three months of the year, total Kia Motors sales has ballooned to 104,774 vehicles representing an almost 27% rise over 2010 auto sales for the South Korean auto brand.
The radically redesigned Kia Sportage dominates the sales success of 2011 by almost quadrupling the 2010 model year predecessor. With the latest concept vehicles situated on the crossover utility theme, Kia Motors’ continuing experimentation in the vehicle category is certain to lead to more production gems.
Information and photo source: Kia Media
