It’s always fun explaining to people that Kia vehicles aren’t what they thought they were. You have to remember that when Kia first started doing their thing several years ago, they were devised as a budget car, and as a budget car they got quite a bit of healthy criticism claiming that they weren’t particularly reliable vehicles.

But a lot (and we mean a LOT) has changed since those early days, and Kia has grown into one of the more reliable and enjoyable brands in the industry. Every Kia dealer Libertyville has to offer could regale you with stories about how much sales have improved over the course of the last few years, and that has everything to do with the uptick in quality.

Yes, people genuinely enjoy driving Kias now, and the sales are showing it. In 2010, the automaker moved 356,268 new vehicles, but through September 2011 they had already topped that, amassing 367,405 sales through the end of the year’s ninth month. At this pace (about 30,000 units a month), Kia will come seriously close to pushing half a million cars this calendar year, and that’s not something they’ve ever even come close to.

By the end of 2012, however, they hope to reach that mark for the first time in the company’s history.

In Chicago, Kia Optima, Rio, Sportage, and other models are really pushing sales through the roof, and the rest of the country isn’t much different. With all this success, as well as the continued improvement of sales right here in the U.S., Kia truly believes 500,000 new vehicles could be sold on American soil in 2012.

That might seem a little ambitious, but based on their current pace—something they think will stick and even improve right through December and into January and beyond—it’s not as crazy as you might think. Ten years ago, we had no way of knowing whether Kia would’ve become the auto manufacturer they are today, but they’ve come a long way, and we’re so proud to sell consumers the results of all that hard work. These cars aren’t what you think they are, folks. They’re a million times better. Hopefully, a million times better is at least good enough for half a million in sales.

There’s nothing quite as exciting as when a release date finally rolls around. It’s not odd to hear about teenagers staking out in front of Best Buys late at night to make sure they get their hands on a new video game or album at midnight of the day it comes out, and adults can be equally excited about the release of things like iPads and new iPhones. PR departments are great about building excitement for a new product, and when the day finally comes that said product is available to purchase and own, we all get pretty pumped.

This month, we’re all pretty pumped about the official debut of the 2012 Kia Rio five-door hatch, which finally made its way to its first dealership in Texas earlier this month. On October 11th, the first batches of the hatches were shipped out, and just like teenagers waiting for Gears of War XII or adults pining for the iPhone 13XS, this vehicle had its fair share of anticipation. Early reviews on the vehicle have been overwhelmingly positive, which is more or less what we expected. Still, it’s nice to hear.

One of the things Ford customers have been most excited about with the ’12 Rio is, quite frankly, the pricing. Any Waukegan new car dealer would sell the base car for $13,600 for the manual transmission or $14,700 for the automatic. That’s extremely affordable for the value customers get, but then again Kia always has been one of the more cost-effective brands on the market. Almost as beautiful as the base price is the max price—for a fully-loaded Rio hatchback, the most you’ll pay is $17,700.

The Rio comes equipped with a 1.6-liter GDI four-banger that pumps out 138 hp and manages 30/40 mpg city/highway. It’s also the only vehicle in the class that shuts down at stops¸ which is a big reason why it’s so fuel efficient. In all, what we’re looking at is a pretty simple, very affordable vehicle that Kia is very proud of. They (and we) hope that people got what they’d hoped for when they waited for this thing to hit the market. Now, of course, it’s on to the next big release date, and with Christmas coming in a couple of months, we’re sure there will be no shortage of those.

Someday, I’m going to have to get Kia to explain to me how they were able to take something that already looked really, really awesome, and then make it even more so. I’m talking, of course, about the 2012 Kia Soul, which got a whole new generational upgrade as far as design is concerned, but for those of us that loved the way the first-gen Soul looked, it’s kind of hard to imagine it looking any better. But it does. Oh, it most certainly does.

In Chicago, Kia Soul fans have been very supportive of the new changes, and every Waukegan dealer is anxious to get his (or her) hands on the new model in the coming months. Of course, not everybody digs the urban crossover, but those that do love really love it, so when redesigning the engineers at Kia didn’t want the Soul to lose its soul. At its heart, the vehicle still looks like itself, but there have been quite a few improvements, starting with the exterior.

What was once a pretty sporty vehicle now looks even sportier, with alterations to the grilles, lights, front bodywork, and wheels. It’s also got a new bumper and a wider overall stance, and different iterations of the model offer even more individually unique options as well.

There are four trims from which to choose—the Soul 1 and 2 (the regular trim grade options), and two “Soul Originals,” the Hunter and Quantum, that offer a few more styling perks. Any one of the gang would be enough to turn heads driving down the road, but as always, having multiple options isn’t something people have ever really complained about.

Imagine taking a hottie like Jessica Biel and finding a way to make her even more beautiful. It seems impossible, doesn’t it? What about improving those classic Boston Celtics uniforms? Not a chance. Or hey, let’s see if we can’t get the Colorado Rockies to look even more majestic and sublime! Ain’t happening. But if it could happen, wouldn’t it blow all of our minds?

It absolutely would, and when it comes to something as previously cool as the Soul getting cooler, well… consider our minds blown.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was a nerd growing up, and as a nerd there were few things I enjoyed doing more on a Saturday morning than going to the library with my father. Once there, few books captured my attention and imagination more than the Guinness Book of World Records. Maybe it was the obese twins on the motorcycles. Maybe it was the world’s tallest man, Robert Wadlow. Maybe it was that picture of the turtle with two heads. Who knows? But in any case, I knew very early on that the Guinness record book was a piece of literary history, and now, a couple of decades later, it still is.

I mention all of this because Kia recently got themselves into the book with a record that actually holds a lot of interest in today’s automotive world. Two skilled drivers took a 2011 Kia Optima gas/electric hybrid almost 8,000 miles across the country in fourteen days, and set a fuel efficiency record in the process.

The men, Wayne Gerdes and Chris Bernius, averaged 64.55 mpg on their trip, easily smashing the previous record of 52.26 mpg. There was one point over the course of their two-week journey where they went three full days without having to refuel. I’ve been on a lot of road trips myself, and to make it half a day without having to tank up is something of note. But three days? Holy Moley.

“Speed kills fuel mileage,” Gerdes said. “Don’t drive on cruise control. You’ve got to allow the car to feel like it’s not climbing (hills). It’s sad to say that they (Kia) keep the keys, and I can’t drive it anymore. I’m going to try to convince my wife to buy one when I get home.”

Kia Senior Executive Vice President and COQ Thomas Oh added, “The team climbed through the formidable Rocky Mountain Chain and negotiated rush hour traffic in Chicago, New York City and Las Vegas—which makes the Optima Hybrid’s fuel consumption figure all the more impressive.”

So props to the 2011 Kia Optima. Libertyville dealerships always knew they had a fantastic, fuel-efficient hybrid on their lots; they just didn’t know how fuel-efficient and fantastic it really was.

We know that crossover vehicles are the fastest-growing class of vehicle in the automotive industry right now, and that being the case, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that a lot of automakers have had to make plans for manufacturing more CUVs than they thought. Round Lake Kia dealerships, for example, have sold way more Sportages than they expected, and that’s a trend Kia has seen all over the world.

Over the course of the first eight months of 2011, sales of the Sportage have increased 18% as compared to the first eight months of 2010, and that was enough to warrant an uptick in production for the vehicle moving forward. When demand gets to rising, Kia gets to enterprising, so they’ve recruited 1,000 new employees for their European manufacturing plant to pump out more of the crossover people seem unable to get enough of.

The Euro manufacturing plant is a huge facility that was actually built so that it could be extremely flexible should just such an occasion arise. It cost one billion euros (about $1.35 million American dollars) to build, so it most certainly is ready to accommodate more workers, more raw materials, and more space to store completed vehicles.

How many more vehicles? That’s not something we know just yet, but we have heard that extra Sportage output might not be the only new work the European plant gets. They also are reportedly getting ready to start production on a new model (we’re guessing it’s the next-gen Kia cee’d), and that could mean a few more thousand employees as well.

Any Kenosha Kia dealer can tell you that business is good right now, and in fact it’s so good that jobs and cars are coming out of the automaker’s ears. Add all that to the added third shift in Georgia, and it really looks like Kia is on the road to doing some seriously good things in the coming year. Two-thirds into 2011 and sales of vehicles already are way up across the board. We know that the future holds great things, and we look forward to seeing what those great things may be. We’re guessing even more cars and even more jobs.

There’s a growing trend in the automotive world to have a really complex and technologically awesome infotainment system that hooks up to a smartphone. In all sorts of iterations of this system, including Kia’s UVO, drivers can sync up their iPhone or Android device to a display screen in the car’s dash via Bluetooth, and using the 3G or 4G connection of the phone, download and use various apps for GPS, internet radio, and loads of other awesome features that make driving about 1,000% more fun.

The problem, however, is for people like me, who work in the middle of a cornfield and get only spotty cell phone and 3G reception. Bottom line, it just doesn’t always work, so relying on phones to make infotainment work isn’t always the way to go. Even when it is the way to go, it’s burdensome and cumbersome to have a phone dangling by an attached chord. All that being what it is, wouldn’t it be nice if someone could figure out how to incorporate all these great apps and driving aids without having to have the phone even hooked up?

Round Lake Kia dealers think so, too, but that Kia dealer will soon have their answer, as the higher-ups in the organization are currently working on a new generation of UVO that actually can access the internet itself without having to rely on the phone and the Bluetooth connection. The option will still exist for using the phones, but let’s face it—if people don’t have to, they won’t. And that’s the way it should be.

At this point there are cars that act as their own wireless hotspots, and if there’s technology for that, there’s no reason we shouldn’t have infotainment that doesn’t rely on the internet connection of a cell phone. This is something that people really have a need for, and Kia looks to be spearheading the research that will make it happen a lot closer to sooner than later.

Of course, it won’t be long until all cars have that sort of technology in it, just like it didn’t take long for Bluetooth infotainment to catch on, but if Kia can get there first, it’ll be a big win for the automaker. And we like big wins. We like them a lot.

If you’ve ever thumbed through an issue of “Esquire,” you know that they have a pretty solid understanding of what beauty is. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single issue in the history of the magazine that doesn’t feature at least a handful of undeniably gorgeous women, and I have yet to see them label someone as beautiful when they weren’t. You could say that the editors of the publication have something of a talent.

So when they call the 2011 Kia Optima “The Most Gorgeous Car Under $20K,” it’s hard to argue with them. The track record sort of speaks for itself.

A cursory glance at the car tells you everything you need to know about beauty in a vehicle. In the words of the magazine, the 2011 Optima boasts a “deceptively simple, yet classy design that exudes refinement and luxury at an outstanding value.” Its high marks came as a result of a “superior combination of world-class design, performance and long list of convenience features.”

It’s practical yet edgy, a perfect combination of boxy and angular, and it has a smooth front grille and headlights that give it a metric ton and a half of personality. Just like all other Kia models, it’s extremely safe and very fun to drive, giving any publication every reason in the world to heap on awards.

In fact, the ’11 Optima has also won Edmunds’ “Editors’ Most Wanted” award and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance’s “Best New Model.” It’s also an IIHS Top Safety Pick and a finalist for Ward’s “10 Best Interiors.”

“Esquire” also placed the Optima as a finalist for the “2011 Esquire Design and Technology Awards,” proving that this isn’t a gorgeous car just by the standards of what’s inexpensive; it’s got a unique design that can hang with the best cars in the entire industry. We always talk about how far Kia has come so quickly, but this is the sort of thing that really puts an exclamation mark on that progress. Chicago Kia Optima dealers have a great car to offer potential customers, and man-oh-man does it sure look pretty. “Esquire” said so, and they really seem to know what they’re talking about.

The hatchback is back. In an automotive world in which people continue struggling in their quest for finding a perfect balance between fuel economy and space, more and more consumers turn away from big SUVs as the preferred family vehicle and lean more towards crossovers and hatchbacks. The crossover is probably the fastest growing segment in the industry right now, but the hatch isn’t far behind, as models like the VW Golf, Toyota Matrix, Mazda3, Nissan Versa, and Hyundai Elantra Touring give potential customers plenty of great choices. Perhaps the best choice of all, however, is the Kia Forte5, which has been labeled by some as the most pleasant surprise in the 5-door segment.

There are three versions of the Forte, including the Forte5 (for “5-door”… get it?), a coupe, and a sedan. All are built on the same platform, but the Forte5 has some shared bits with the Hyundai Elantra Touring wagon, as well. Two four-cylinder engine options exist: a 2.0-liter and a 2.4-liter, with only 17 horsies difference between the two. Waukegan dealers can offer a six-speed manual transmission or a good ol’ automatic one, and fuel efficiency is more or less the same no matter which of these options you decide to go with.

Obviously a hatch offers quite a bit more storage space than a conventional trunk, and for those of you that prefer a trunk for safety purposes, keep in mind that there is a blind you can pull over your cargo to keep thieving eyes away from your stuff. There’s a 60/40 folding back seat that ups the total storage space even more, meaning this a car that drives well and has room for lots of storage. It’s basically a perfect commuter vehicle.

Gurnee Kia auto dealers will tell you what a smooth ride any iteration of the Forte offers, but you’d have to drive one for yourself to get the full effect. Hatchbacks are back, baby, and you may as well jump all over this trend while the gettin’ is good. People want the best combination of fuel efficiency and space, and this one’s a great balance of both.

One million is a heck of a number. Musicians want more than anything to sell a million records because that’s exactly the point at which they reach platinum status. Entrepreneurs want to make a million dollars because that’s exactly the point in which they are allowed to call themselves millionaires. A YouTube video watched by a million people is officially considered viral, a million bucks hauled in at a fundraiser is a pretty significant a haul, and don’t even get me started on what I’d do with a million cookies.

In general, we tend to consider one million of anything a milestone, and Washington state’s Port of Tacoma recently was able to celebrate one such milestone as they checked in their one millionth Kia at the Blair Terminal on August 11, 2011.

We know that in the whole scheme of things that probably seems like small potatoes considering the fact that Kia Motors sold 1.4 million vehicles in 2010 alone, but the Tacoma longshoremen in Washington have worked hard for 16 ½ years to usher in that many automobiles to American soil. That’s a lot of work to help one of the industry’s most promising burgeoning automakers grow to its full potential.

“We congratulate Kia Motors on reaching this milestone at our Port,” said Connie Bacon, the Port of Tacoma’s commission president. “Over the years, the Kia business in Tacoma has meant thousands of longshore hours for our International Longshore Workers Union Local 23 workers who drive the vehicles off the ships, and hundreds of jobs at AWC and throughout our community. We look forward to continuing this long-standing relationship with Kia Motors.”

For the record, the one millionth car just so happened to be a 2011 Optima Hybrid, and Chicago Kia Optima dealers know what a huge boon that particular vehicle has been for the brand. It’s the first hybrid that Gurnee Kia dealerships have been able to offer, and it’s meant a significant jump in sales. That, in turn, means continued work for the good people at the Port of Tacoma, who will probably import their next million Kia vehicles a lot faster this time around.

People don’t like settling. Not in their marriages, not in the cars they buy, not even for the food they paid $3 for at a McDonald’s. If it isn’t what we always hoped and dreamed of, we don’t want to waste our time.

But sometimes we do anyway, especially when it comes to buying a car. Usually it happens because people go into a Kia dealership with misunderstandings about how the whole process works, so here are some tips to make sure you that you get exactly the car you want, even if there are some obstacles that you think might be standing in your way:

Misconception #1: The Price is Too High

You don’t even have to be a great negotiator to get a price down. Just do your research ahead of time, come into a dealer with a number you’ve got in mind, and let them know the cost or monthly payment you’d like to stick with. They’ll make something happen for you. They want a sale just as badly as you want a great car!

Misconception #2: I Don’t Have Any Cash For A Down Payment

Once upon a time, you had to put 20% of the total cost of a vehicle down when you were making a new car purchase, but not anymore. There are loads of great finance programs out there, many of which can start you off with $0 down. Keep your eye out for that deal on the car you want, and a down payment is no longer a problem!

Misconception #3: I Have Bad Credit

Around 70% of the American driving public has bad credit, but they’re still the driving public. They’ve got to get around somehow, right? A professional dealer can always find ways to get you financed, so don’t be afraid if your credit score is low. Talk to the dealer and keep your fingers crossed. It’s not impossible to drive a great car even with a lower credit score.

As you can see, even when things look like they’re impossible, there always are ways to get the car of your dreams. Whether it’s a Kia Soul, Sorento, or Rio, Chicago dealers can find you the best deal as long as you’re prepared and open about your goals. Do that, and settling never will be part of your future.