The history of the Kia Pro Cee’d is quite interesting. This visually striking 3-door car evolved from the Kia Cee’d, Kia Motors’ first European made car and only available for Europeans. The Cee’d was designed in Frankfurt by a team headed by Miklos Kovác and manufactured at the Teplička nad Váhom, Slovakia factory of Kia. It was originally introduced to the European market in December of 2006. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Kia got the European Economic Community’s acronym EEC (CEE) and included ED to denote its European design.
The Kia Pro Cee’d made its debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show of 2007 and was made available to the European market in 2008. The Pro Cee’d is the 3rd model of Kia’s 2nd generation line up of Cee’d automobiles. The sportier, but quite affordable model will be on sale to UK buyers spring this year, 2013.
Kia’s move from the five-door hatchback to this sporty looking Cee’d model is the Korean company’s response to the style-conscious bent of the European market. Kia’s closest rival for this new 3- door model of Cee’d is the Hyundai Veloster, Vauxhall Astra sport, the Volkswagen Golf and the Volkswagen Sirocco. All share the sportier look of a three-door hatchback.
