Naturally the three letters of JDM has been burnt into our minds as Japanese-inspired tuning. Clean, purpose built vehicles without extravagant body kits and modifications. But over the years JDM has changed much like the sport compact scene as a whole. USDM has even been tossed around now with popular vehicles like the Dodge Neon SRT-4 and even Cobalts and Solstices.
What's interesting however is how low the Korean vehicles have been laying. Sure everyone expects a Kia or a Hyundai to just be a budget car to take you from point A to point B, but there's no denying that there are avid fans out there of the brands. The Tiburon was fairly popular amongst the tuning crowd, and with the new Genesis coming out from Hyundai and Kia's Soul and Rondo, the next few years are going to be very interesting.
ShowOpt teamed up with Kia Motors America to build a one-of-a-kind Rondo for SEMA 2008. Taking advantage of the opportunity, ShowOpt decided to brand it as a KSportline vehicle, developing and manufacturing new parts for this upcoming "KDM" tuning trend. The result? Well, we'll leave that up to you guys - but we knew it was something worth sharing. The changes that this sport compact industry is going through right now are going to make or break what we'll be seeing in a matter of a few years once the economy turns back around. There's no denying that Korean-made vehicles are being customized and now that it's about to his mainstream, we're keeping our eyes glued.
This Rondo starts off with an extremely attractive House of Kolors Kandy Cobalt Blue paint job on the exterior. As we mentioned before, KSportline went straight to accessorizing the vehicle, manufacturing their own line of goods that will hopefully be seen at Kia dealerships nationwide in the near future. Up front is a whole new front fascia along with Ksportline eyelids and hood protector. The side skirts were also replaced with more stylish pieces flowing to the rear Ksportline valence, rear hatch wing and rear hatch spoiler. KSportline also took the time to customize the stock mirror and integrated an LED signal to it. All these products will be available for purchase soon directly from KSportline.
Continuing on the exterior modifications, the car is fully adjustable when it comes to ride height thanks to UA's Air Suspension. A pair of JDM UA air tanks along with lines, switches and a remote allows this Kia Rondo to reach any stance it needs. The chassis has also been reinforced with a custom 6-point roll cage and Ksportline front strut bar.
The interior has been completely decked over courtesy of Stitchcraft. Very few pieces have been left alone in there from the carbon style head liner, pillars, rear hatch section, and door panels. NRG Racing enters into the equation with their leather steering wheel, carbon steering wheel ring, quick release steering wheel hub, carbon bucket seats, and 4-point harnesses. The car has been fully ICEd out as well, with a quartet of SoundStream TSQ 10-inch subwoofers and TRC amps. A SoundStream VIR7355N head unit with navigation along with a Nintendo Wii provides plenty of entertainment for passengers and driver.
Lastly, there isn't much out on the market for the Kia Rondo in terms of go-fast parts, but KSportline made due. A custom intake pipe along with a GReddy Airinx filter has been installed along with NRG's ground wires and voltage kit. For the exhaust, one can see NRG's titanium piece extending out the rear.
We're excited to see what's to come for the Korean-tuning market - but for now, we're extremely pleased with this KSportline built Kia Rondo and can't wait to see what else they have brewing.
