Kia secures big wins for small cars at 2021 Driver Power

Kia models have today picked up a slew of awards at the 2021 Auto Express Driver Power new-car survey, as voted by real car owners.

Dominating the small car classes, honours for ‘Best city car’ have gone to the Picanto and ‘Best supermini’ to the Rio. This is the second year running that both cars have earned their respective class wins in the Driver Power survey. The Ceed was also top of its class, winning the ‘Best compact family car’ category.

Kia appears twice in the top ten Driver Power’s 75 best new cars, with the Rio earning second place and Car of the Year ‘Silver’, as well as ‘Gold’ for the ‘infotainment, connectivity and electrics’ category. In addition to the Rio’s stellar success, the Sportage ranked an impressive ninth place in the list.

Now in its 20^th year, Driver Power gives new car owners who have had their car for between three months and three years the opportunity to share their opinion on what their cars are really like. The survey touches on the complete ownership experience, from driving to reliability, running costs, practicality and comfort.

Steve Fowler, Editor-in-Chief at Auto Express, commented: “If a third-place finish overall wasn’t impressive enough, Kia’s performance across our 13 classes and 10 categories is a testament to how comprehensively strong its cars are. With the Ceed being rated as the ‘Best compact family car’ and the Rio topping the supermini class, Kia is clearly on a roll. Factor in a win for infotainment thanks to the Rio’s perfectly judged system, and Kia’s designers and engineers are clearly doing a great deal right.”

Paul Philpott, President and CEO of Kia UK Limited, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Kia, especially because Driver power is voted for by our customers. The survey results offer reassurance as to how well our cars fit into people’s lives and it is tremendous news that the Picanto and Rio have both maintained their class wins from last year, as well as the Rio being named as Car of the Year ‘Silver’ and a ‘Gold’ for its excellent infotainment system. This is further testament to Kia and our dealer partner’s continued efforts to listen to customers, and deliver what they want in our products.”