At the request of Super, here's my repost

[RedScorp]

Interesting you mention that because I was just reading on motortrends website their 2009 vehicle forecast. Among the list were the following...

2009 Kia Pickup: Midsize or full-size pickup co-developed with Hyundai.

2009 Kia Sport Coupe: Kia to offer its own version of the Hyundai Tiburon, in coupe and convertible forms.

2009 Kia Sport Sedan: Kia to have a sportier model of the Hyundai rear-drive sedan.

http://www.motortrend.com/future/spi...fvf/index.html

I would still caution Hyundai/Kia on the pickup market. Toyota, Ford, Chevy, and Dodge have the market locked up. And depending on where you live geographically in the U.S. depends on how diehard the consumers are about American vs. Japanese. Mitsu tried coming to the U.S. market with the Raider and it flopped miserably. I think I've seen 3 since it's debut a couple years ago. It's a dangerous market to enter and terrible losses to be had playing the truck gamble.

There. It's reposted in a proper thread. :D

[SuperGLS]

You are awesome.

The truck: They've been talking about a pickup for over 5 years now and unlike Hyundai they actually build concept pickups. They certainly will have a pickup in the future. As babot and Mike commented on, the South Korea-USA free trade agreement on the pickups is really going to help. Very good news.

Kia version of the "Tiburon" : I hope that Kia does have a sport compact car in the near future to further expand on their "sporty" brand image. Kia sales are growing at a faster rate than Hyundai and a small sport compact car would definitely keep that up.

Kia version of the BH/Genesis: I haven't heard anything on that front. I guess it makes sense, but if Hyundai is going to be the "luxury" brand then I think the Kia version might not show up for quite a while.

[slvrsleeper]

As far as brand marketing and image goes I think Kia will get the new Tiburon (which will surely be renamed when it changes brands) and the BH will remain a Hyundai only product. Asian pickups have come a very,very long way from the pitiable Raider. Just look at the Nissan Titan and the newest Toyota Tundra, both of which are successful based on their merits as trucks rather than brand loyalty. Where Hyundai will find its greatest challenge is convincing the truck buying American public that they can also build a credible, competitive truck. I sincerely hope that they come to market with a truly remarkable first effort.

[SuperGLS]

What Raider are you talking about? The recent one? It's a Dakota.

[GrGaKC]

Well, slvrsleeper said it, the biggest problem would be penetrating the USA market. But I for one would really like Hyundai to have some good pick-ups. As for Kia, I'd prefer if their sports-car would be something RWD, with minimal equipment and maximum driving fun (thought I doubt it...), like the BMW did with the CSL series 3.

[slvrsleeper]

The oft-rumored Tiburon replacement has been reported to be RWD and V-8 powered. We'll see how accurate the reports are. If it is to be based on the BH platform then the small sports car TIbby is definitively dead as the BH is almost as large as the 300c. So something about the same size as the 09 Challenger isn't out of the question. Back on topic I'd like to see a full size pickup with the Tau bored out to a genuine 5.6 liters and roughly 350 hp with 350+ lbs/ft of torque and the six speed Aisin tranny. Just to keep the engineers at Nissan from getting all big headed.