Kia Stinger (Steve Lagreca/Bigstock.com)
Kia's products were once of the cheeky but innocuous variety. The hopefully-named Pride was a cheap and cheerful little hatchback that sold in decent enough numbers to get Kia a foothold in Europe's competitive small car market.
The South Korean outfit never really set the world on fire with its designs, preferring to play it safe in the hope that it could bag a slice of the sensible hatch-pie.
Deciding perhaps the 'Pride' sounded like like the kind of car that would be popular with sewing circle and coffee morning aficionados, the marketing peeps called the firm’s next offering 'Rio' – named presumably after the exotic, joyous and slightly 'mug-tastic' Brazilian metropolis.
An exciting, fun, slightly dangerous name, then – but the car itself was "dull, dated, dreary and depressing in almost every way," according to Top Gear.
The subsequent Rio, however, was far more worthy of its Brazilian namesake (but without the 'mug-tastic' bit).
Loathe to go their own way, the growing South Korean car firm quite simply pinched as many styling cues from the likes of the VW Polo and the Ford Fiesta as it could get its mitts on, then hired star designer Peter Schreyer to turn these plundered ideas into something beautiful. In the end it wasn’t so very sexy, but it was smart enough for your average European hatchback buyer – and that generous warranty swung it for many.
Kia have also tried a number of other deceptively sensuous or Mediterranean-sounding names: Venga, Picanto, Soul (not the sprawling capital city).
With its new 'Stinger' – a fastback four-door coupe – the Kia naming department seems to have been looking Stateside for inspiration. But it's not only the name that seems American – this is a powerful number that can achieve a 0-62mph time of 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 168mph.
That's a far cry from the Pride, which would start shaking and rattling when the speedo wobbled towards 100mph.
Kia are being tight-lipped about many of the Stinger's stats and figures, including its fuel economy data. But one thing is for sure, the Stinger certainly looks the part, borrowing styling cues, arguably, from the likes of BMW and Jaguar.
Kia's intentions towards the sports saloon market are not entirely honourable – and for once, the name reflects this.
Check out some photos of Kia’s Stinger GT here: http://cars.aol.co.uk/pictures/kia-reveals-the-hotly-anticipated-stinger-gt-sports-saloon/?ref=21650858
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