The new Kia Picanto went on sale last week after its reveal at the Geneva Salon in March and debuts Kia’s new all-inclusive national servicing package.
Peter Schreyer, designer of the original Audi TT, has transformed the Korean car maker’s portfolio since he took over as Chief Design Officer. His first work was the Focus/Golf-sized Cee’d but, since then, we’ve seen him perform magic on the Sportage and Sorrento SUVs, the Soul and the Venga. Now it’s time for Kia’s supermini to get a fresh new image, ahead of the Fiesta-sized Rio receiving a (very welcomed!) new look.
The Picanto goes from budget brand transport appliance to something you might actually want to own. Beyond the new look is a ground up engineering rework too, with new 1.0 and 1.25 litre Kappa family petrol engines bringing the supermini under the 99g/km CO2 emissions level which means zero rated UK Road Fund Licence and no London Congestion Charge fee (for now at least). Fuel consumption is as good as 67.3mpg on the EcoDynamics version, an improvement of 9mpg over the outgoing model. These updates give the new car all it needs to compete with the best of the Europeans in the segment, like the Citroen C1, Peugeot 107, Ford Ka and Fiat Panda.
The five door model starts from £7,995 on the road. For the first time a three door model will be available, but not until later this year. As with all new Kia’s, the Picanto comes with a seven year or 100,000 mile fully transferable warranty.
However, added to this and for the first time on a Kia can be their new Care-3 package, which covers the first three services – either 36 months or 30,000 miles for just £259 including VAT. A Care-3 Plus package is just £499 including VAT and covers the first five services – either 60 months or 50,000 miles (why not call it Care-5 then?).
Customers can also purchase either service package after the vehicle has been collected – customers have 45 days after initial registration to add this. If a customer wishes to retain the Picanto after three years and originally only had the Care-3 package, a top up can be added for £275 including VAT, to extend the package to the full five years. And as the service packages are transferable to new owners, those same new owners can also opt to top up to extend the cover period if they buy the car at the end of the initial Care-3 term.
Expect to see similar packages launched for other new Kia’s soon. Keep following us on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin for more details.
OSV can offer new and used vehicles for sale or on finance, just visit our website for further details and to see the different finance packages available including, Contract Hire, Contract Purchase, Finance Lease, Hire Purchase, Personal Contract Purchase and Personal Contract Hire.
