Every company has had a hand in Kia or Hyndai at one point in time or another. A buddy of mine has a 2007 Corolla and he opted for manual transmission after finding out that the automatic transmissions Toyota uses in the newer Corolla's are made by Kia. Ford had their hand in Kia for a wile, Chrysler used the Hyndai Pony for quite some time (badged as the Colt). For the what you pay, what you get value of Kia / Hyndai, they aren't bad cars (lol, I can't believe I said that). They are like buying a car from a Dollar Store. You can't expect them to last or be completely reliable, but they work for what they were designed for, they're cheap to maintain and run, and when [they] (the sealed for life gas tank) runs dry, you toss them and buy another. They are a good car for someone that needs something cheap to run back and fourth from work or short trips, and likes getting a new car ever year or every other year. I will admit, for the amount of them on the roads here in Calgary, I see very few come into the shop, and the only time they really need repairs is when someone either screws something up by doing something they shouldn't have, or when they are maintained poorly. They're decent little cars, and they're starting to make their mark on the auto industry, I'd rather buy a Kia/Hyndai thats Korean made over a "Cherry" (apparently soon to be released to North America) thats a Chinese Knock off of Chevrolet. At least with Korean made things, you know the quality is not as good as what it could be, but its more consistent then what comes out of China.
