IT MAY be that sister company Hyundai is now self-proclaimed as ‘Ireland’s fastest growing car brand,’ but Kia has been making steady progress here in recent years and the most recent registration figures to the end of May showed the Korean firm competing well inside the top ten selling marques with a very healthy 4.57% market share for the first five months of the year.

WHEN Hyundai built the first generation i30, it redefined the South Korean firm. The Kia Cee’d, which is pretty much the same as the i30, did the same for Hyundai’s sister company.