The 1 millionth car rolled off the assembly line at Kia’s Zilina plant in Slovakia just a little over five years since the factory opened.
The milestone model was a white, diesel-engined Kia Cee’d SW that was handed over to a Slovakian children’s charity called the Red Nose Clowndoctors.

Kia said that the Cee’d SW is also the 600,000th version of the Zilina factory’s first car. Today, the plant also produces the Kia Sportage SUV and the Venga mini MPV. Last year, the Zilina factory produced 252,000 cars and 359,000 engines, recording a 10 percent and 12 percent increase respectively over 2010.

The soon-to-be replaced Cee’d topped the list with 103,000 units in 2011, representing 41% of the overall production. It was followed closely by the Sportage with 101,000 units or 40% of total production, the Hyundai ix35 with 36,000 units and the Venga with 11,000 units.

Kia hs unveiled a new luxury version of facelifted Pro_Cee’d in the UK. The three-door Kia Pro_Cee’d ‘4′ comes with added standard features and is powered by the latest version of Kia’s 1.6-liter turbo diesel producing 126bhp for a 0-60mph sprint time of a little over 10 seconds and a top speed of 122 mph (196 km/h).

The new Pro_Cee’d 4 rides on 17-inch alloy wheels and features black bezel headlights and privacy glass. Inside, the interior has full black leather upholstery combined with front heated seats and a leather trimmed steering wheel, while other standard features include cruise control and in a first in the Cee’d range, a fully integrated Sat-Nav system and a reversing camera.

The Pro_Cee’d 4 is available in the UK with on the road pricing of £18,495.

Look at the first official photo of the facelifted 2010 Kia Cee’d. The new hatch will make its world debut at this fall’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

As we see, the 2010 Cee’d features a new fascia inspired by Kia’s latest models and concepts likes the Forte and KND-5. The cosmetic tidy-up includes the Kia firm’s signature grille surround flanked by a pair of reshaped headlamps, plus a new bumper and hood design.

Look at hte first spy shots of the facelifted 2010 Kia Cee’d. Photos were made at the Nurburgring race track in Germany. Kia’s Golf-sized hatch Cee’d will make its debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September and will arrive to European dealerships during the fourth quarter of the year.

Aside from the new hood design and the restyled exterior mirrors with integrated turining signals, expect a new grille and headlights influenced by Kia’s latest production and concept cars likes the Soul and KND-5 mid-size sedan study plus a few changes at the rear including different tail lights.

Kia introduces diesel-powered Sport variant of its Cee’d model. Its a Kia’s 136bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, which was produced for the Cee’d three-door version only.

Now diesel added for the five-door Cee’d and SW estate versions. Badged as Sport models, the diesel cars could mark the beginning of a diesel revolution in the Cee’d range.

Plans are afoot to introduce a more powerful oil-burning version of the Pro_cee’d too, but bosses are yet to give the project the official go-ahead.

The Cee’d product line that consists of three body variants (5door, SW and the 3door Pro_Cee’d) at Kia’s all-new Zilina factory in Slovakia has topped the 200,000 mark, 18 months after start. The Zilina plant’s productive records this year include 915 units made in a single day on Monday 21 April.

“This is another truly significant day for Kia,” said Mr In-Kyu Bae, President and CEO Kia Motors Slovakia. “We produced our 100,000th cee’d last September, only 10 months after start-up, and with the addition of the cee’d wagon and pro_cee’d three-door hatch we have reached our 200,000th cee’d after only eight more months. We are proud to have achieved record productivity levels while maintaining excellent build quality.”

Kia has finished a new bigger diesel for its Cee’d model. The Kia is making the 2.0-litre CRDi oil-burner from the Pro_cee’d Sport available across its family car line-up.

The 138bhp diesel appears in a new range-topping Sport trim on the five-door hatchback and SW estate bodystyles. And as well as the engine, the models get new 17-inch alloys, unique headlamps and tinted rear windows on the outside, plus part-leather sports seats inside.

Although it delivers more power, the 2.0-litre unit features the same fuel injection and Variable Geometry Turbocharger technology as the cur-rent 113bhp 1.6 CRDi in the Cee’d. It also complies with the latest Euro IV emissions standards. The new variants command a $2,400 premium over 1.6 models, so the Cee’d Sport starts from $32,000, with the Cee’d SW Sport priced at $32,000. Both are covered by the brand’s market-leading seven-year warranty.

Kia is now offering the 138 Hp strong diesel-unit on the Cee’d 5door and Cee’d SW models. Kia’s range topping diesel engine is introduced with a new Sport grade for the 5door and Station Wagon models featuring 17-inch alloys, black bezel headlights and rear privacy glass. The Sport models’ interior has part leather seats featuring a specially designed tyre tread cloth design with silver stitching highlights on seats, arm rest and steering wheel. The five-door Cee’d 2.0 CRDi Sport is priced at $30,000 while the Cee’d 2.0 CRDi Sport S W at $33,000.