Kia to sell Forte hybrid car in Aug.

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SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest
automaker, will begin selling its first hybrid car later this year, featuring
high-end lithium-ion battery technology, a company executive said Tuesday.
Lee Ki-sang, a senior executive in charge of hybrid development for Kia and its
parent Hyundai Motor Co., said Kia will release the hybrid version of the Forte
compact car in August for the South Korean market.
Neither Hyundai nor Kia currently sell commercial hybrid models, but have been
stepping up their efforts to bring hybrid cars to the market in response to high
gas prices and an increasing premium on fuel efficiency in the U.S.
Hyundai also plans to launch its Avante hybrid car later this year in South
Korea, Lee said.
"Hyundai and Kia expect to sell about 40,000 units of the Avante and Forte hybrid
cars this year," Lee told reporters at a press conference in Seoul.
The Forte hybrid, which runs on both liquid petroleum gas and electricity, is
representative of "Kia's new strategy for eco-friendly management," the automaker
said in a statement.
Equipped with a 1.6-liter gas-powered engine and a lithium-ion battery, the Forte
hybrid can run 17.2 kilometers per liter with 114 horsepower at its peak, Kia
said.
Conventional hybrid cars, including Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius, use nickel-metal
hydride batteries. Experts say lithium-ion batteries would allow automakers to
significantly cut costs in building hybrid cars.
Hyundai plans to start selling its hybrid version of Sonata sedan in the U.S.
market as early as 2010, the company said earlier.
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