Did you know that Kia Amanti started as Mazda's "Infinity" line? Some of you may remember this, but I never made the association between the 2 till a rep recently told the story to me.

Amanti was to be Mazda's luxury division the way Infinity, Acura, and Lexus is to Nissan, Honda, and Toyota. The car that they were working on was cancelled when Mazda started bleeding red ink.

Along the way Kia bought the name and the designs, and rushed it to market as quick as they could. That's why there oddly is no identifying logos or symbols on the front of car.

http://wieck.com/public/*2PV_068342

 

I like the expensive house in the background. Lol, is it supposed to give the kia an upscale image or something? Someone with that kind of lifestyle wouldn't be caught dead in a Kia.

The car in itself looks odd. But like all Kia's, it should be a decent value in comparison to other luxury cars.

 

I always thought that car was borderline copyright infringment on Mercedes...

 

I thought that too, it seems to be just a styling mix of other lux cars.

 

It looks rather luxury like......it's still a Kia though.......

 

I sat in one at the autoshow last weekend and it was pretty equipped.. memory seats, sunroof, wood trim, and looked ok for 25K but I would never even think of owning one. For that price i'd rather drive a Monte Carlo.

 

perception's a b*tch aint it?

 

I think someone's feeding you a line, guionM. First, Mazda's luxury line was going to be called "Amati", with no N. The first car that was going to be an Amati ended up staying under the Mazda marque as the Millennia (the one with the supercharged Miller Cycle V6).

Second, that was back in the early 90s. If Kia had bought anything, they bought 12-year-old technology and certainly woudn't have needed to "rush" it to market.

I'm quite sure there's absolutely no connection between the Kia and the Mazda except the names are close, and from there people have added their own conjecture.

 

I always assumed there were no identifying logos because that was just one more thing they could do to let their buyers try and convince people they were driving a nicer car than a Kia.

 

yea, i noticed the lack of logos also
i think it is really a mix of mercedes and jaguar, atleast til you reach the rear end of the car
i really dont see them market for it
a person who wants to spend 25k on a kia? i mean, even if it's luxurious, i think the person might spring for a cheap mercedes or something, or get something that is almost as nice without saying "yea, i drive a kia"

 

Personally, I'd rather have a car with more features and an unappreciated name, as opposed to having a spartan car with a fancy name. After all, who are you buying the car for-- you and your own comfort; or to "impress" people who might see you in it?

Especially with Merecedes' rapidly declining quality and watered-down status as a luxury marque, the choice becomes even more clear.

 

you have proved me wrong
i just wonder how many people there are out there like you...i guess we'll see when the numbers come in

 

1. Mazda's abortive upmarket division was supposed to be called "Amati."

2. The car that became the Mazda Millenia/Xedos 9 was originally supposed to be the first of the cancelled Amatis. It was supposed to be pitched against the Lexus ES.

3. The Amati flagship was supposed to be a big RWD, V12 powered car. It was a mock pillarless hardtop and a bit more upscale than the Lexus LS. (Think overinflated Mitsubishi Diamante, and you can guess what it looked like.)

4. The Kia Amanti has nothing to do with Mazda's aborted Amati brand. Although Kia was originally a licensee of Mazda, today the company is merely an offshoot of Hyundai.

5. Isn't the Kia logo just a little red oval? Isn't it just a takeoff on Ford's little blue oval?

6. Kia is in no way related to the long dead Amati, but the name itself could very well by an acronym. Could Kia stand for "Killed in Action?"

 

1. When you consider the awful depreciation, the slothful acceleration and the peculiar design, I can't see the Amanti as a sane proposition. If FWD and a big back seat are a must, the Toyota Avalon is only as $3,000 away from the Amanti. Better yet, you can probably find a new Grand Marquis w/leather for about $20k. Suddenly, the Amanti looks all the more foolish.

2. A C230K Sports Sedan falls into the same $28-grandish price realm as a top-of-the line Kia Amanti. It's hard to argue against Mercedes' reputation for high resale value and excellent service. If the quality and reliability of a Mercedes aren't what they once were, remember that the cars are actually less expensive than they were 10 to 15 years ago.

 

Good points, though to be honest my statement was more generic in nature. I don't really know many specifics about the Kia.

Naturally resale value would have to be figured into the purchase price (or more likely, lease, since most of these Kias I'm sure will go out the door on subsidized leases). And I would also consider performance one of the attributes that would need to be matched by a 'lesser' marque.