Kia Rio

Kia Rio is a subcompact automobile manufactured by Kia Motors, the South Korean auto manufacturer. The Kia Rio has been available for sale since August 2000 and currently, the third generation of Kio Rio is being sold. The current Kia Rio comes with three door and five-door hatchback body style and four-door car body style. The current Rio is outfitted with inline-four petrol and diesel engines, and is offered with the front-wheel drive system.

The first-generation model of Kia Rio was offered in both five-door hatchback and four-door sedan body styles, with that Codename DC. When launched, the Kia Rio was the most inexpensive mass-produced sedan to be marketed in the United States. While the design and affordability of Kia Rio were well-acknowledged, it was ridiculed for its deprived driving experience and build quality.

The hatchback version of Kia Rio was sold under the name the Rio Cinco in America, the Rio Look in Chile, with the name Rio RX-V in Canada and with the same name Kia Rio in the United Kingdom. Both hatchback and sedan versions were sold in Greece as Kia Rio.

The Kia Rio replaced the first-era Kia Pride, a rebadged model of the Ford Festiva and the Kia Avella, a subcompact sedan marketed as a Ford in some automobile markets.

The first generation Kia Rio was equipped with safety features, such as an airbag and seat belts for the driver as standard. For admission-line sedans, ABS was offered as an option, but it was offered as standard for higher end models.

A second generation Kia Rio was launched in Europe in 2005 and later in North America in 2006, sharing its platform with a subcompact sedan, the Hyundai Accent. The second generation was sold as the New Pride in South Korea. The engine was improved to a four-cylinder, 1.6-litre Alpha II DOHC engine to get the required power of 110 HP. Other changes in the second generation Rio comprise an innovative exterior design, a boost in exterior dimension and interior capacity, improved safety features and fuel saving. The hatchback was sold under the name the Rio5 in Canada and in the United States of America.

The manufacturer offered the 2006 model sedan as the Rio LX and Rio, the LX trim model was provided with power steering, CD player, and air conditioning. The Kia Rio5 was available only in SX trim level with leather-wrapped steering wheel. Like in the first generation, some European markets, including the United Kingdom, were offered only with the five-door hatchback body style of Kia Rio.

The models of Kia Rio provided with a facelift during late 2009 for the model year 2010. They were equipped with the fresh Tiger nose grille of Kia. Additionally, the steering wheel gets the similar design like the Kia Forte and the Kia Soul, featuring Bluetooth hands-free telephone function as an option, and a fresh red backlit design was offered to the gauge cluster.

The Kio Rio was face-lifted in 2010 to incorporate the Tiger Nose grille of Kia, and for the 2012 mode, Kia launched the third generation Kia Rio.