Kishiwo - concept spotted on streets

Awildgermanappears · 21 December 2017 18:56

Literally more torque.
Literally more torque.
SUV. At least pretend you have all-surface capability.
Literally more torque.

Explanation: The extra 150kg of the better equipped AWD model makes any additional low-down torque a nice bonus. A low pressure turbocharged engine will do just that and it also tends to last a long time. Most SUVs have the option of AWD, which you tend not to get on most subcompacts. Any transmission can only handle a certain amount of torque. This is why the early Porsche 930 and most Mercedes with the M275 (5.5-6.0L Biturbo V12) engine have less gears than their lesser brethren, as their older transmissions were able to safely handle the torque these engines made better than the more modern counterparts found on smaller engined models (yet Mercedes still had to limit the maximum torque of the engine)

Hshan · 21 December 2017 19:25

Well, SUV pretending capabilities seems like the only explanation to me… 8 hp difference is so minor that IMHO it would make way more sense to just use one engine. Turbos seem a bit like a wasted potential, since both that power and efficiency could be easily achieved with simpler, naturally aspirated engines, so torque might be the only explanation… AWD doesn’t seem to give anything significant except more weight and a bit better offroad (yay), but still rather low. Gearbox… that could be lore explanation, as Automation automatically adjusts gearbox to the torque it has to handle, whatever would it be. But yeah, ok.

Maybe I’m just in a grumbly mood. Or maybe some things make little sense here. Probably both. One certain thing is that I shouldn’t come to newcomer’s threads to comment.

Just4 · 18 January 2018 19:06

2017 Kishiwo MiPoVa major facelift

The 2017 model year brought us a facelift of the Kishiwo MiPoVa (MPV because i am a genius)

It includes the same engine as the pre-facelift, a 2.0l i4, petrol siping, 125hp, natural aspired engine, a new revamped manual engine with 6 instead of 5 gears, improved fuel economy. The interieur got updates on the infortainment and the layout got a makeover, which means that for 600$ extra, there will be a 3rd row of seats. The safety features have been updated to fit the current standarts of IIHS, EuroNCAP, etc.

Designwise, the MiPoVa got a ne front fascia with updated headlights, the new typical Kishiwo grill and a new front bumper, with a new vent layout.

The back of the MiPoVa changed trastically with the, for the latest generation of Kishiwo typical, Name written on the hatch, the new LED system in the taillights and a makeover for the bumper aswell.

After a major recall in 2016, where kids were treathened to get cut in half by the sliding door system the pre-facelift had, Kishiwo decided to burn the idea of this kind of doors and the facelift only has regular doors.

The engine set up hasn`t changed from the pre-facelift.

The lux trim from the pre-facelift got trashed (because it only made 2% of the overall sales in Europe and 5% in North America), that means that the MiVoPa only will be available in one trim, with a bunge of extra equipement, for example sunroof (800$), heated/cooled seats (500$ front, 1000$ front and second row), 12 speaker SunSound system (1850$ in connection with alcantara leather seats). The Kishiwo MiVoPa starts at 19080$.

Expected sales 2017

72500

Countries

Europe, USA, Canada, South Korea, China, Japan, Australia & New Zealand

Manufactured at

Incheon - South Korea
Rijeka - Croatia
Wichita (KS) - USA

jhd1124 · 19 January 2018 02:50

Hey, I really dig your newest design! The MiPoVa seems to be a very neat compact. I am terrible at engine mechanics so I’m not going to talk about it and focus more on aesthetics (superficiality is so in right now). To start, I really like the headlight and taillight design, they are consistent and gives your brand a cool distinct feature. I also think the fixtures in general are sized really well in comparison to the car (I always step back from my designs only to realize the headlights are either massive or teeny tiny). If I may, there are a few things that I would change. For starters, the front of your car has plastic trim, body-colored trim, and chrome trim. I think having all three makes it look a little messy, in my opinion. Maybe the grille with your logo could be body-colored like the scoop-turned-grille on the bottom of the car. I would also give some consideration to different, more budget-y wheels. All in all a really cool design. I look forward to seeing more of your stuff!

Just4 · 19 January 2018 15:33

Thanks for the feedback, my bad about the plastic grills. When I made it, I thought about it as a matt black colored body part!

Just4 · 24 January 2018 22:04

Kishiwo History Time 1.0

1985-1992 Kishiwo CETU

1985-1989 Kishiwo CETU Sport

The CETU Sport was the Coupe variant of Kishiwos savior car, that got them out of the red, to the top of their home market South Korea and even was their first sucess in Europe and North America.

After Kishiwo was close to go bankruptcy in the 80’s, the top engineering team in Incheon started to work on fuel efficient mass market cars instead of the huge luxury flagships, that got the brand to a point, where it looked like it is the end. The first CETU got manufactured in Kishiwos hometown Incheon and was given to the South Korean president as a gift. This action was filmed and showed as a part of the CETU commercials and brought in more buyers than everybody expected.

1985-1992 Kishiwo CETU sedan

From one day to another the streets of Seoul, Busan, Incheon and many more cities were filled with CETUs, nearly every tenth car was one of them, which could have been caused by a huge amout of taxi-drivers, that all went for the CETU instead the other major brands. The first cars got exported in 1986, mostly to western European countries and North America.

The CETU worked itself up in Europe, landing in the anual top ten in 1987 and 1988, but after that the sales plummeted, because the price of the CETU wasn´t cheap enough anymore and other brands (like Kia) took advantage of that which left the CETU getting good sales figures in the following years aswell, but not even close to the amount they sold in 87 and 88.

1985-1992 Kishiwo CETU wagon

The Kishiwo CETU sold huge numbers in the USA from 86 to 88 but saw the sales colapse for the same reason as in europe, their direct competitors offered their cars for less money. In Canada and Mexico the CETU sales looked very promising until 1990.

The last two years (91 and 92) were quite interesting, as in 1991 the CETU sales dropped by 50% in compareism to 1990 but then in 1992, as the all new Kishiwo Katoya, the sucessor of the CETU, was on the way to the markets of our earth, the sales strangly increased by nearly 40%, which caused the delay of the Katoya by three month as the Incheon manufacture needed to produce way more CETUs than planned.

Sales 1985-1992

975000

Countries

South Korea, North America, western Europe (Germany, France, UK, etc.)

Manufactured at

Incheon - South Korea

jhd1124 · 25 January 2018 00:09

I really dig this design! It has a sort of Miata-esque quality in that it is sporty without looking overly aggressive (well, at least until the current one). I also love the taillight design, too; it’s really of it’s period.

Funnily enough, my old car company, Camoria, also faced severe economic cutbacks in the 1980s. Tough times, eh?

abg7 · 29 January 2018 17:26

There’s a hint of Mustang up front and 6-series in the back, but in my opinion this seems to take the SUV-coupe idea a bit too far. It is definitely unique, though.

As for your color palette, it looks nice, but Sky Blue is a bit too much like neon cyan to not feel out of place in any decade other than the 90s, while Juicy yellow is clearly too pale and washed-out - a deeper, more saturated shade would look much better on most cars.

Just4 · 14 February 2018 23:43

2007, eleven years ago, this beauty got to see the light of our world for the first time. You might ask yourself, who I mean by “this beauty”? Simple answer, it is Kishiwos first real SUV, the Kishiwo Mirako. Many people thought “what a Toyota rip of South Korean shitbox”, but their opinion changed in 2009, you might remember the economy drop that made everything way to expensive, not the Mirako. It started from 15420$, which meant that it was the first choice for families, that wanted to replace their mid-90’s wagon with something fancy and family-friendly.

In its selling period from 2007 to 2012 there have been three different versions available (Color, Inspire, Luxor) with five different engines to pick.

The Kishiwo Mirako first gen had a pretty succesful lifetime in a horrible economy, dominating the South Korean sales charts for three years (2007-2009), selling many units in Europe, Australia-New Zealand and South America. The USA, Canada and Mexico top 50 sale charts included a Kishiwo for the first time, hitting a impressive 20th place in the USA in 2007.

Sales 2007-2012

1975302

Countries

South Korea, North America, Europe, China, Japan, South-East Asia, Middle-East, Australia-New Zealand

Manufactured at

Incheon - South Korea
Rijeka - Croatia
Wichita (KS) - USA
Chengdu - China
Rosario - Argentina

DeusExMackia · 1 May 2018 17:43

Review: 2018 Kishiwo Katoya Colour Convertible

“An accountant who doesn’t even know how to drive a car could design something with more refinement that this dull, messy creation”

South Korean brand Kishiwo don’t often come up in the regular arguments in the Splendid Auto Monthly office, and even then, we only seemingly remember them for making millions and millions of ultra cheap runabouts in the mid-80s that the entire elderly population of the UK lost their collective minds over.

What about today then? Well, I’m driving the company’s latest creation. The Katoya is the company’s compact segment offering, and this specific trim - the Colour trim - is a sportier coupe model. Or rather I should say, hard top coupe, because you can drop the roof on this thing. Not bad for a compact.

It’s a big dissapointment from the get-go though. The styling is so odd, and leave you questioning. Why are the front indicators so large? What is with that weird bit of chrome along the bottom of the C pillar? Why are the tail lights so damn small?

It’s a big shame, actually, with those tail lights, given that styling wise, they actually look quite good. How they got approved being that small before being sold in the UK, however, is another question.

The sort of it, however, is that the looks just don’t work. It’s got a case of anemic mid-2000s American styling at the front and the rear looks so odd with those tiny lights.

The interior is better, being a fully premium layout with leather, metal finishings and the usual tech. Not much to write home about, though electric variable steering makes it very smooth when steering around town. One thing that is odd, however, is that a lot of the styling and features seem to point to this being some kind of sports car - it comes with launch control, after all.

Because it isn’t. It has a 1.4l VVT/L i3 up front which, will producing a decent 100 hp, is certainly very nice on a hatchback, is about as sporty as a pair of wellies. Being on the larger side for an i3, it’s also quite rough feeling in the mid and upper rev range, and the noise is about as exciting as a microwave.

Despite being made entirely from aluminium too, the car can’t even mange 0-60 in less than 11 seconds, with a positively average 6 speed transmission that just…kind of just does its job. Nothing to write home about, that’s for sure.

It’s the handling, however, that is properly backwards. There’s clearly been no consideration for understeer, making the handling feel undertuned and far from refined. It’s made worse by the fact that there is clearly no difference in the shocks and springs at the front and the back. The lack of consideration for weight balance makes it feel very front heavy and properly all over the place, and is made worse by the huge roll angle that almost convinced me we were really driving a 1970s off roader. It’s horrendous.

Even for a bog standard, every-day compact, the handling is dire. The engine passes, but even then, it’s just such a drain of excitement that it can’t save the car from being outstandingly dull and incompetent on the road. And what’s the point of having that coupe body and a roof you can drop if you can’t enjoy yourself while using said features?

A caucophony of poor design choices that they clearly came up with while make the tea and decided would “probably do” for the final car. Avoid at all costs.

- Gavin Anderson

Cheers to @just4 for lending me the car!

abg7 · 2 May 2018 03:26

A harsh but appropriate verdict - this is one of the worst cars I have ever come across. Even if it handled better it would be too slow to be anything but pointless, and giving it a better engine would not make it look better either. Whoever signed off on this abomination deserves to be executed on sight! Just kidding - they should merely rethink their approach to designing a car.

DeusExMackia · 2 May 2018 07:57

Anyone suggesting someone should be killed for making a bad car has clearly lost all sense of principle and reality.

Radster · 2 May 2018 07:57

Lack of diplomatic solutions to interpersonal discrepancies: The movie

Awildgermanappears · 2 May 2018 08:40

At this point I think our green friend is playing a character just as you are, emulating an internet commenter free of empathy who’s never driven the car in question and just takes the word from a not necessarily unbiased critic as a fact, even though a driving experience is always subjective and thus cannot be rated.

abg7 · 2 May 2018 09:15

I was referring to Kishiwo’s engineers… And I apologize for the bad joke. But I understand that it would make no sense to jump to conclusions prematurely.