Hyundai does classy – at least as classy as a rapidly emerging Korean carmaker can get – and its sibling Kia does whacky. To reiterate Kia’s youthful and sporty image, the brand attacked Las Vegas’ SEMA show this week with a quartet of outrageous custom cars.
West Coast Customs (WCC) took care of a golf-themed Hole in One Kia Soul, adorned with a sky blue exterior paint scheme and five-spoke 20in wheels. It’s a bit too toy-like for us, but the driver and passenger do get suitably outrageous artificial grass flooring throughout the car, a 26in LED TV, an Xbox 360 game console and the obligatory earth-shattering sound system.
A slightly more grown up Kia is the Blake Griffin themed Optima Hybrid. Griffin, if you remember, is a basketball star that leaped over an Optima to win a slam dunk competition.
For the Hybrid WCC chose a custom orange-paint (like a basketball) and 20in matte black wheels. Rather tackily, the interior has basketball-court flooring and a mini basketball hoop in the trunk.
The good stuff we saved for last, because the Retro Surf Kia Rio five-door goes old school with 17in three-piece gold-centred wheels, a slammed ride height and a sunset metallic golden-brown paint scheme.
The Hat Trick Forte five-door could be even cooler, featuring four sports bucket seats in the cabin (instead of a rear bench), custom ice metallic grey paint, 19in blue wheels, carbon fibre accents and a decked ride height. Very JDM, or to be precise, KDM.
