Kia Forte Wins Cars.com/USA Today/MotorWeek Compact Sedan Challenge

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The all-new 2014 Kia Forte was recently named by Cars.com as the best compact sedan in its league. The multi-day Compact Sedan Challenge brings together experts from Cars.com, USA Today and MotorWeek to conduct a series of tests on a competitive set of vehicles and combines their professional assessments with the real-world opinions of car shoppers currently in the market for a compact sedan.

"The Forte truly stood out against the competition," said Patrick Olsen, Cars.com's Editor-in-Chief. "Between its dynamic exterior styling, impressive standard features for the price and excellent ride and handling, the 2014 Forte is a well-rounded car that checks off all the boxes of the perfect, affordable compact sedan."

This years' competition included the 2014 Ford Focus, 2013 Honda Civic, 2013 Hyundai Elantra, 2013 Subaru Impreza, 2013 Nissan Sentra and 2014 Toyota Corolla. The Kia Forte bested all the rest  with its roominess, performance and premium amenities. The Compact Sedan Challenge judges cars based on a series of criteria, including fuel economy, comfort, styling and drivability.

"The Forte is designed to bring our customers premium amenities at an affordable price," said Michael Sprague, executive vice president of marketing & communications, KMA. "Cars.com's recognition of the 2014 Forte as being the best compact sedan among these worthy contenders clearly highlights Kia's commitment to quality and value for our customers."

With its sleek European-inspired styling, the Kia Forte was designed to offer more room, more performance and more amenities to an ever growing segment of compact sedan consumers.

Kia:  One of the World's Fastest Moving Global Automotive Brands

Kia Motors America is one of only three auto brands to increase U.S. sales in each of the past four years, and in 2012 the company surpassed the 500,000 unit mark for the first time.  With a full line of fun-to-drive cars and CUVs, Kia is advancing value to new levels of sophistication by combining European-influenced styling – under the guidance of chief design officer Peter Schreyer – with cutting-edge technologies, premium amenities, affordable pricing and one of the lowest costs of ownership in the industry.  Kia recently moved up in the exclusive ranking of Interbrand's "Top 100 Best Global Brands" after joining the list for the first time last year, and is poised to continue its momentum with seven all-new or significantly redesigned vehicles scheduled to arrive in showrooms in 2013.  Over the past decade Kia Motors has invested more than $1.4 billion in the U.S., including the company's first U.S. assembly plant in West Point, Georgia – Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia – which is responsible for the creation of more than 14,000 plant and supplier jobs.  The success of the U.S.-built* Optima and Sorento in two of the industry's largest segments has fueled Kia's rapid growth and is complemented by Kia's comprehensive lineup which includes the Cadenza flagship sedan, Soul urban passenger vehicle, Sportage compact CUV, Optima Hybrid, the Forte sedan, Forte5, and Forte Koup compacts, Rio and Rio 5-door sub-compacts and the Sedona minivan.

About Kia Motors America

Kia Motors America is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 765 dealers throughout the United States and serves as the "Official Automotive Partner" of the NBA and LPGA.  In 2012, KMA recorded its best-ever annual sales total and gained U.S. market share for the 18th consecutive year.  Kia is poised to continue its momentum and will continue to build the brand through design innovation, quality, value, advanced safety features and new technologies.

Information about Kia Motors America and its full vehicle line-up is available at its website – www.kia.com. For media information, including photography, visit www.kiamedia.com.  To receive custom email notifications for press releases the moment they are published, subscribe at http://www.kiamedia.com/us/en/newsalert.

* The Sorento and Optima GDI (EX Trims and certain LX Trims only) and GDI Turbo are built in the United States from U.S. and globally sourced parts. 

About Cars.com

Cars.com is an award-winning online destination for car shoppers that offers information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car. Cars.com offers thousands of new and used vehicle listings, consumer reviews, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and many other tools. Cars.com puts millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they need to make confident buying decisions. Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC), Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).

SOURCE Kia Motors America