Kia is moving forward at a rapid pace and the Korean car manufacturer is now one of the fastest growing car manufacturers in the world. We have learned that Kia is going to add some extra excitement to its line-up with the introduction of two new hot hatches. Sources at the company have stated that there are going to be an all new version of the Kia Rio as well as a new sports version of the new generation Cee’d vehicle. Kia is most likely to follow the route that Skoda took with their initial Skoda Fabia vRS engine and source it from outside, but at the present time nothing has been confirmed..

Hoping to follow Skoda’s path, it would see m quite clear that the Rio and Cee’d are most likely to get high performance diesel engines. The Rio would most likely be fitted with the 1.7 liter diesel unit that currently does its job in the Chevrolet Optima and offers a maximum power of 150 horsepower. The Cee’d would most likely use the 2.0 liter version that would put out a maximum 180 horsepower.

Both car will come with a much harder sports suspension and also be fitted with a complete sports body kit as well as well placed styling and modifications on the interior. Combining these with low running costs should make for exciting times for Kia. The Kia Rio will be the first one to hit the markets followed by the Cee’d although there are no confirmations on the exact dates that either car will be released.

Along with these rumors of new hot hatches hitting the market, there were some making the rounds that these would compete with the Mazda MX-5, but sources inform us that these are not likely to come true. Chief Kia design boss, Mr. Peter Schreyer has said that he would love to design a two-seater hot hatch but in terms of business viability it does not make much sense and thus such plans for the present time are on the shelf.

China has been one of the biggest and fastest growing economies in terms of car manufacturing and distribution and the Chinese buyers have a reputation for being quite voracious in terms of their vehicles. Saying this when it comes to sports cars they prefer the security of a larger more established brand name. What would make for an interesting case will be the reaction of the Chinese market to the introduction of the new sports coupe from Hyundai called the Veloster.

The Hyundai Veloster was initially supposed to be showcased at the recently concluded Paris Motor Show but ultimately was not as Hyundai had another new product they wanted to showcase – the Hyundai ix20 mini –MPV. This has pushed the debut of the Veloster to the Los Angeles Auto Show starting in a November of 2010.