The campaign to increase the brand awareness stepped up a gear this month when Motor Trader was invited to join a group of mostly regional newspaper journalists on a visit to the brand's South Korean heartland to see what it has up its sleeve. Simon Hetherington, the brand's newly appointed marketing director, was also on the trip and acknowledged the brand has an awareness problem which it needs to tackle head-on if it is to take a 3 per cent share of the new car market within the next five years. “At the moment our spontaneous brand awareness among buyers is 16 per cent which is much too low. We need to move up to 25-30 per cent which is where Nissan and Fiat currently are,” he said. Hetherington said the brand is also addressing the desirability question and said the seven year warranty on the Ceed and Sportage models, built at its new plant in Slovakia, was a central issue. “We're focusing on the quality message and the seven year warranty is a key pillar for us,” he said. The brand sees its immediate growth coming from its European designed Ceed line-up which has recently been extended with the addition of the Ceed Sporty Wagon and next year's Pro-ceed three-door. “Our key focus will be on the Ceed – that model has to be number one in the minds of consumers. A lot of our success is built around the Picanto which is known for its value and affordability but for most brands the C-segment car is the one which defines it,” he said. The brand is also addressing its national representation and has started a programme aimed at filling 30 open points to bring the network up to 170 outlets by the end of 2010. Meanwhile Kia in Korea is looking to dramatically increase international volumes following last year's opening of the Slovakia plant and the 2009 opening of its first US production centre in Georgia. Both are targeted to produce 300,000 units a year which along with a joint venture in China will see its overseas production hit 1 million units annually. Domestic capacity currently totals around 1.35 million units. Europe has been targeted by the management team as a key area of growth with sales predicted to nearly double from 308,000 this year to 609,000 in 2010. While a major part of the growth will come from the Ceed family and the recently facelifted Picanto, Hyeong-Sik Park, deputy general manager of the overseas product marketing team, confirmed forthcoming models would also play a role. Next year it will launch a facelifted Magentis while early 2009 will see the debut of the production version of the Soul, its B-segment compact SUV, and a new Sorento is expected in 2010. The carmaker has also made a heavy financial and strategic commitment to the development of hybrid power and fuel cell cars. Kia told the UK group that it plans to invest heavily in next generation green vehicles and environmental technologies. It is focusing on the development of core technologies for fuel cell and hybrid cars and is planning on mass production of both types of vehicles. The UK group tested a Rio hybrid saloon fitted with a 1.4-litre petrol engine and 12kW electric motor which is virtually production ready with 4,000 units ordered by the Korean Ministry of Environment. The car is also equipped with Kia's Idle Stop & Go system which switches the engine off when the car is stopped and the engine is idling. This technology will also be used in special eco versions of the Ceed which are due to go on sale in Europe in early 2009. The company's even more ambitious fuel cell development is currently being tested in a small number of hydrogen fuelled Sportage FCEV models. These are powered by three electric motors, a 100kw fuel cell and are fuelled by twin 76-litre hydrogen tanks. If Kia is hoping to make its cars more desirable then it may be about to score an irony laden victory as an early customer in the UK could be London mayor Ken Livingstone. Transport for London, which is pursuing a hydrogen vehicle programme, recently contacted Kia direct in Korea for details on the Sportage FCEV. It would certainly be a feather in Kia's cap to sell a new generation of eco friendly cars to one of the harshest critics of 4X4s.