On September 28, 2007, Kia plant near Zilina produced the 100,000th car since the launch of volume production in December 2006. The 100,000th car came to be the youngest model on production line and that is a wagon version cee´d_sw. The 100,000th car in red colour with 1.6L diesel engine, 5-speed manual transmission and in best TX version will be dispatched to a customer in Germany.
On October 3, the 100,000th Kia cee’d drove off the assembly line and set another landmark in the developing history of Kia in Europe. Kia Motors Slovakia is the first European Kia assembling manufactory which represents new quality and productivity criteria of car production.
“Production of first 100,000 cars at our European plant is exceptionally significant milestone. The built quality and the productivity levels achieved by our Zilina operations are remarkable. These two factors have enabled us to offer the unique Kia 7-Year Warranty on cee’d cars. Due to European design, the cee’d model produced in Slovakia triggers a growing surge in Kia sales across Europe,” enthused Mr. In-Kyu Bae, President and CEO Kia Motors Slovakia.
Mr. Jean-Charles Lievens, Senior Vice President Kia Motors Europe, Kia distributor in Europe, added: “Since its launch in Slovakia in December 2006, more than 80,000 cee’d five-door models have been delivered, and this model, with its 5-Star EuroNCAP safety rating, has played a key role in winning over thousands of new customers to the Kia brand.”
With a highly-trained staff of 2,500 working two shifts, Zilina is already building three Kia models – cee’d 5-door hatchback, cee’d Sporty Wagon and Sportage SUV. In second half of October, Kia near Zilina will launch volume production of the fourth model pro_cee’d a sporty 3-door version of the 5-door cee’d.
