Kia has released today the first teaser image of the Kia Ray concept which will have its public premiere at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show next month. The Kia Ray concept is an electric car that was styled at the company's Design Center America. The design features of the Kia Ray concept preview a future plug-in hybrid vehicle.
Apart from the new Kia Ray concept, the company is already testing various fuel cell and hybrid-engined vehicles in real life. The company also plans to sell Liquefied Petroleum Gas hybrid vehicles in Korea within the next 12 months.
The production version of the Kia Ray concept has not yet been programmed for production, but the carmaker start testing petrol and diesel hybrid vehicles in Britain this year.
We'll have more details and images of the new Kia Ray concept at the time of the Chicago Auto Show.
Kia Press Release:
As Governments and motorists keep up the interest levels in an electric-car future Kia Motors Corporation has revealed the first preview rendering of its latest concept car – called Ray – which will make its global debut at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show next month.
Styled by the team at Kia Design Center America, the Kia Ray project was undertaken to demonstrate how Kia’s evolving design direction would be applied in the packaging of a plug-in hybrid vehicle.
The actual car will form the centre-piece of the Kia Motors America display at Chicago and the vehicle will contribute to Kia’s on-going development of alternative-fuel vehicles.
Already Kia has pioneered potentially real-life fuel cell vehicles and has working prototypes operating in California and Korea.
Additionally Kia has various hybrid-engined vehicles providing real-world data in various locations and plans to commercialise Liquefied Petroleum Gas hybrid vehicles in Korea within the next 12 months.
Currently no date has been set for hybrid Kia models to be put on sale in the UK but on-road testing of petrol and diesel hybrid vehicles is due to start in Britain this year.
The Kia Motors press conference for the 2010 Chicago Auto Show will be staged at 1:30 p.m. on February 11, 2010.
