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Carsales Staff20 Mar 2014
NEWS

Kia fails to pro_cee'd with automatic option

Manual transmission the only option for Kia's first entry in the performance hatch segment

Kia has this week launched its first performance hatch variant -- the pro_cee’d GT -- in Australia. The model will slot into a highly competitive sports segment boasting some of the biggest names in the genre, as well as some of the best selling.

But where the spirited new variant may lose out is in its failure to offer an optional automatic transmission. Sold only with a six-speed manual gearbox, Kia admits the pro_cee’d GT could forfeit sales to any number of competitors available with an automatic option -- including its cousin, the Hyundai Veloster SR Turbo.

“The pro_cee’d GT comes out of our factory in Slovakia and it’s not offered to us with an automatic transmission, so we actually didn’t have the option,” explained Kia Motors Australia Senior Product Manager, Jeff Shafer.

“In terms of how we’ll position the car, and the flavour of sports performance that we wanted to target, I think the manual is probably more appropriate in terms of the sportiness and the character.”

Shafer was quick to point out that the importer is not deterred by the pro_cee’d GT’s solitary transmission option, insisting that Kia dealers should be able to convince auto-oriented customers that the mechanically-similar Cerato Koup Turbo is more their speed.

“Some people, who might be looking for an auto, may pass on the car. But we do have the Koup, which has the turbo engine with the automatic transmission,” he said.

“That car we’ve positioned very much as a grand tourer, and I think the auto matches that flavour very well, whereas in the sports hatch [pro_cee’d GT], in kind of a European sense, the manual really fits, and suits in terms of the level of driver engagement that we’re seeking.”

As to whether the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission currently under development at Kia’s research and development centre in Namyang, South Korea will appear in future pro_cee’d GT variants, Shafer was optimistic.

“I wouldn’t rule out any particular model for that DCT,” he said. “We’ll certainly be discussing the application of that transmission to upcoming models with Korea, and you could suggest that this model might be a good fit. We’ll keep looking at these kinds of opportunities as they come up.”

Priced from $29,900 (plus on-road costs), the Kia pro_cee’d GT mixes in the same VFACTS segment (Sports <$80K) as the likes of the Mazda MX-5, Volkswagen Scirocco and even the Nissan 370Z.

However, the model is priced closer, and has performance nearer to the segment-leading Toyota 86 (and Subaru BRZ), Veloster SR Turbo, Renault Clio RS 200 and Kia’s own Cerato Koup Turbo.

Almost all of the aforementioned competitors are available with a cost-option automatic transmission, which helps drive sales of those chasing the look, if not the full driving experience, of a sports car.

Kia says that depending on supply (ex-Slovakia) it hopes to sell around 80 pro_cee’d GT variants per month this year, which places it within range of the Subaru BRZ that averages 117 sales monthly.

Comparatively, these numbers rank well behind the less powerful Toyota 86, which sold an average of 558 monthly in 2013.

Meantime, the Veloster sells an average of 327 examples each month, while the Cerato Koup manages 449 (the Cerato Koup joined the sales race in October 2013, and these figures are tallied to the end of February 2014).

The pro_cee’d GT is powered by the same 1.6-litre direct-injected and turbocharged Gamma four-cylinder engine as found under the bonnet of the Veloster SR Turbo and Cerato Koup Turbo. It develops 150kW at 6000rpm and 265Nm between 1750 and 4500rpm, which Kia says represents a 51 and 61 per cent increase respectively over the output figures of the normally-aspirated engine.

In conjunction with the six-speed manual transmission the pro_cee’d GT is said to consume 7.4L/100km on the combined cycle and emits 171g/km of CO2. Against the stopwatch it is capable of accelerating from zero to 100km/h in 7.7 seconds on its way to a top speed of 230km/h.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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