By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Kia Motors’ Cee’d has been awarded a five-star safety rating in the latest Euro-NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) crash test results, according to the South Korean automaker Wednesday.
Cee’d, a five-door hatchback equipped with six airbags as standard, got excellent scores in the front and side impact, and child protection tests. It is the first time that a South Korean-made car has received such ratings from the Euro-NCAP.
Kia Motors said that the latest safety ratings -- 5 Stars for Adult Protection, 4 Stars for Child Protection and 2 Stars for Pedestrian Protection -- placed Cee’d among the C-segment’s safest cars.
``It is a landmark achievement for Kia Motors,’’ Senior Executive Vice President Kim Yong-hwan said. ``Cee’d is designed, engineered and built in Europe to meet or surpass expectations of European consumers in every respect, including safety.’’
He expected that the combination of the car’s qualities, plus the five-star safety rating and a unique seven-year warranty, will make Cee’d even more attractive to European consumers. All Cee’d cars are produced in the Kia Motors plant at Zilina, Slovakia.
Other Kia Motors officials said the company engineers gave priority to ensuring that the car had high levels of ``active safety’’ with good visibility, responsive and agile handling and powerful braking to enable drivers to avoid accidents and other hazards.
In the meantime, Kia Motors said Cee’d has recently been selected by the Slovak government as the successful bidder to be the official police car of the European country after fierce competition with the Volkswagen Golf and Peugeot 307.
Kia Motors plans to introduce the new, stylish Cee’d Sporty Wagon in dealer showrooms from next month while unveiling an exciting three-door Pro-Cee’d for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show due to open on Sept. 11.
Kia Motors, the third-largest carmaker in South Korea, makes more than 1.3 million vehicles a year through 12 manufacturing and assembly operations in eight countries. It constitutes Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group along with Hyundai Motor.