Kia Credos

The Kia Credos was Kia's first self-developed mid-size family sedan. It went on sale in South Korea in 1995 and in Australia in 1998, and it was based on the fifth-generation Mazda Capella, which was also sold as the Mazda 626. Early cars offered a 1.8-litre Kia T8D petrol engine and two 2.0-litre Mazda FE engines, one with a single and one with a double overhead camshaft, and a licensed 2.0-litre V6 derived from the Rover KV6 joined the range with the 1998 facelift. That facelift also added a station wagon that Kia called the Parktown in South Korea, where it was a commercial flop. Reviewers found the interior dull but spacious and the boot large, and the basic 1.8 SX was priced at about 11,000 pounds, roughly 4,000 pounds below the equivalent Ford Mondeo and Vauxhall Vectra. The Credos was replaced in September 2000 by the Optima, which Kia sourced from Hyundai, ending the badge-engineered relationship with Mazda.