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Kia's brand perception still painfully lags behind reality

I can't tell you how many times I've been driving with friends or family in a decidedly nice Korean press car, only to have a passenger notice the logo on the steering wheel and exclaim, "Wait... this is a Kia?" For every time I roll my eyes at a story with a lede about how Hyundai "is really gaining momentum these days," I get equally annoyed when people comment on how Kia is finally starting to make decent cars. This is hardly news. The brand has been pumping out really solid stuff for a while now.
But as it turns out, not everyone knows that. According to Ward's Auto, speaking to Kia marketing chief Michael Sprague, the automaker recently placed third-to-last in a recent ALG Brand Perception of Quality study, only besting Suzuki and Smart. Wow.
Ward's notes that Kia recently earned a credible sixth place in J.D. Power & Associates' Initial Quality Study, and yet still fell way behind pretty much every other brand in the ALG study. The Korean automaker's cars have also won numerous awards in recent years, and have generally earned positive reviews from the media, Autoblog included.

Supermodel Adriana Lima kicks off World Cup fever with Kia

Americans, it has been said time and time again, will never embrace soccer. Not when we have so many other sports (like baseball, basketball, hockey and American football) to watch, cheer on and follow. But if anyone can change minds, surely it's Adriana Lima. The Latin American supermodel - best known for being a Victoria's Secret Angel - is the lust-worthy centerpiece of Kia's campaign for the FIFA World Cup, taking place this year in her native Brazil.
Kia is sponsoring this year's international soccer championship, and is kicking off its campaign with two ads in which Lima does her best to convert Americans into futbol fans and players. Which seem like a losing battle to begin with, but the least believable part of it very well might be that an international supermodel like Adriana would be driving around in an Optima or Sorento and not in a Mercedes or Maserati convertible. Of course that doesn't mean we mind watching her try, and so can you in the pair of clips below.

Kia K900 with 650 hp debuts at SEMA

Kia revealed a monster-powered K900 - with output approaching 650 horsepower - this week at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Fittingly called the "High-Performance" K900, the sedan gets a Garrett 2871R twin-turbo application, which boosts the 5.0-liter V8 engine from its stock rating of 420 hp.
The heady power is underscored by a sinister appearance package, which includes a custom body kit with carbon-fiber inserts, blacked-out chrome trim and 21-inch gloss black wheels. The K900 also has a lowered Eibach suspension and eight-piston brakes with 15-inch cross-drilled rotors.
Inside are tan leather seats with black suede accents. Eleven-inch monitors are mounted in the seatbacks, and the trunk features a specially designed compartment for a racing suit.