At $70K Will Kia's K900 Fall Victim To VW's Phaeton Effect?

very likely this will flop, who would pay that much for a Kia? I drove an Equus and it didn't drive like it was that nice either, so good luck Kia

Alot of it will depend on timing. At the very least, Kia needs to wait a few years. Optima buyers are just stepping up into the Cadenza, which was new this year. They need to wait for Cadenza buyers to be ready to step up to this K900. One of the keys to the initial successes of Acura/Lexus/Infiniti, was that they already had a substantial client base that was ready to step up into a luxury model. Kia doesn't have that non-luxury base of customers, so they need to have step-up customers from within the brand.

Regarding the car itself, I think it'll be a solid choice, but they need to re-think that plain-jane interior. They did such a tremendous job with the Optima interior but the Cadenza's interior is very bland. And this one in the K900 doesn't look like it belongs in a $70k car.

Hyundai exceeded sales goals (2500-3k yearly) with the Equus, which people said would flop. No reason the K900 shouldnt move in similar numbers. Its a new day and badge-hoes are stepping down, and those that dont care about badges are stepping up and into what gives them the most for the money.

Newflash: 3k/year is not a success. Any CEO/COO/CFO can under-forecast a sales target and call it a success if they exceed it. I'd be interested to see the yields (or lack thereof) for those numbers.

Korean cars don't make profit, it only looks profitable because the government sends them checks to balance their books to put on a good image. Just like most Asians kids walk the walk by driving their parents' car, Asian companies (especially Chinese and Korean) do the same by having mommy gov't protect their markets and send them an allowance.

I am not brand-whore, whether it be for cars, electronics or clothes, so I'm not knocking the "value" brands. But once that value brand price price their up-model item at certain level, then I can't help but compare them to the more premium brands. In this case, I have a hard time, personally, consider spending $70K for a Kia ..... or a Hyndai, or a Honda or Toyota, or even a VW. Just my two cents.

If you want a full size luxury car at a lower price than the competition, then this makes sense. If you want something a big more sporty then the competition will be what you want. So I think Kia is serving the portion of the market that doesn't get a lot of attention. It will also serve older people who are not looking for a sporty ride - these people tend to have more money than other demographics.

Buy a fully loaded anything (Avalon, Impala, Taurus, Passat, even Accord) and the options will pretty much be the same minus 20K plus you get a good brand instead of some faux car brand.

70k for an amazing kia ?? i think id rather get a maserati ghibili, how about you guys ?? lol, such crap !!

Wow, BMW exterior complete with a fake BMW interior, even that navigation wheel. They must have purchased them directly from the BMW factory in China/India.

Frugal people will not go for this. Truly wealthy people will either opt for a real car or buy a normal brand because those drowning in money who aren't famous got rich by being smart, not cheap and stupid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiB8i6LlJog

interesting how Hyundai modeled its " imitation luxury" cars after Mercedes and has its sub brand Kia modeling after Bimmer...

Then again Toyota also found success after offering its Japanese spin on Mercedes in the 90's now known as Lexus

Competition is always good. It's interesting that Kia, unlike the Japanese brands, chose to take the same approach as VW and Hyundai and not make a separate marquee for their luxury car. Whether this will hurt them in the end remains to be seen. Even MB didn't sell as many of their Maybachs as they were hoping. In any case for Kia to succeed it is imperative that they do everything they can to enhance their luxury car buyer experience, both before and especially after they buy this car. This is where VWNA failed their Phaeton buyers miserably. The Phaeton was an exceptional car but the customers were treated no better and sometimes worse than a person buying a Beetle.

This car will flop..not because it is a KIA, but because it will be sold in the same show room as the cars sold to the "great unwashed". VW did the same thing and believe me, people who pay $70-80,000 for a car don't want to deal with the guy in pink dockers and a golf shirt. To be a success, they need separate show rooms and service facilities, and no association with the KIA brand name. Give the car it's own identity, quality construction and materials with great service and people will buy it.