Kia goes to greener Rio
BY MARTON PETTENDY | 21st Jun 2010
The 1.4-litre petrol engine in the base 2011MY Rio S five-door hatch, pricing for which remains unchanged at $14,990 manual, now returns average fuel consumption of 6.6 litres per 100km in manual guise (down one point from 6.7L/100km), while the automatic version now returns 6.7L/100km – down from 6.8L/100km.
Kia says that gives the (hatch-only) Rio 1.4 a five-star rating from the federal government’s Green Vehicle Guide, on which it now ranks 15th – two places behind Kia’s own Soul. According to KMA, Kia is now the only manufacturer to have two mainstream vehicles in the top 20 that aren't either hybrid or “green modified”.
As with the Rio LE Sport hatch, the 1.4-litre petrol four in the base Rio S hatch emits 158 grams of CO2 per kilometre, giving it a 7.5 out of 10 Greenhouse Rating and equal-best 8.5/10 Air Pollution Rating, which takes into account carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter emissions.
The same software changes also apply from April production to the facelifted JB-series Rio’s larger 1.6-litre engine, which now returns 6.7L/100km in both manual and auto versions of the Rio Si sedan and hatch, which both still start at $16,840.
“Kia Motors Corporation is committed to designing and building cars that not only offer increased performance and safety but also offer improved eco-friendly designs and engineering,” said Kia Motors Australia president and CEO MK Kim.
“In 2009, we unveiled the Forte (Cerato) LPI Hybrid, the culmination of 20 years of effort aimed at developing green vehicles with high fuel economy and low emissions. In that same year we managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10.8 per cent per vehicle compared to 2008.
“This attitude also flows down through manufacturing. From 2008 all Kia production and aftersales sites in Korea have maintained an inventory of greenhouse gases and have carried out third party assurance reviews. By 2011 the scope of those reviews will include all of our plants including Slovakia, China and the USA.”
