Kia Sephia: Kia’s first car of its own design

The Kia Sephia was a compact car built from September 1992 to 2003. The first generation was the first car Kia designed around its own chassis, and it was the first Kia sold in the United States; over two generations the name covered the Mentor, Shuma, Spectra and Timor S5 as well.

Kia Sephia at a glance

History of the Kia Sephia

The first-generation Sephia was the first car actually designed by Kia with its own chassis. It was presented in September 1992 to replace the ageing Capital, which was losing market share fast. Engines were Mazda B-series units: a 1.5-litre of 79 hp, a 1.6 of 105 hp, and from 1994 a 1.8-litre BP of 122 hp. The car was a success at home, selling more than 100,000 in its first full year, 1993, and 472,920 were sold over the life of the original model.

Export

American sales began in late 1993 for the 1994 model year, and the Sephia was the first Kia exported to the United States. An update for 1995 restyled the grille and tail lamps and gave all US-market cars except California’s RS and LS the 1.8-litre BP engine from the Mazda Familia BG, a design Kia licensed from Mazda but built itself. The car reached Europe in spring 1994, called Sephia in some markets and Mentor in others including Britain. It was about the size of a Ford Escort but priced like a Ford Fiesta, and it competed with budget imports such as the Daewoo Nexia, Hyundai Accent, Proton Persona and Skoda Felicia. Brazil got it in March 1994 with only the 1.5 twin-cam of 112 PS, and Kia studied Brazilian road surfaces and imported 1,000 litres of Brazilian petrol to calibrate the engine management. A Sephia Cabrio concept was shown at motor shows.

Timor S5

In Indonesia the car was sold from 1996 as the Timor S5 by PT Timor Putra Nasional, which had been designated the country’s national carmaker. Because of that status the Timor was exempt from taxes and duties even though it was imported from Korea, and it sold at half the price of a comparable Toyota Corolla. The range included the S515, the fuel-injected S515i, the sports S516i LE licensed by Prodrive, an SW516i estate and an SL516i limousine. Local assembly in West Java began in 1998 and ended after a WTO dispute, but sales continued until 2007 from stock built in 1998.

Second generation (1997)

The 1997 car was completely redesigned as a four-door sedan and a five-door liftback, this time in-house by Kia with help from Mazda. It used a 1.5-litre DOHC engine and Kia’s own 1.8 T8D, originally developed for the Kia Elan, plus a better air-conditioning system. In Korea the Sephia name was retired in 2000 in favour of Spectra, and 628,168 second-generation cars were built. North America had the sedan for 1998 and the liftback from 2000 as the Spectra; the two were sold side by side until the 2002 update, which facelifted both and put the whole range under the Spectra name. Spectras were also built in Egypt by Arab American Vehicles, in Russia by Izh-Avto until 2011 and in Malaysia between 2001 and 2010. In Australia the sedan and liftback arrived in May 1998 as the Mentor, and from June 2000 only the liftback remained, rebadged Shuma and then Spectra after the 2001 facelift.

Design and features

• First own chassis: the first Kia designed around its own platform.
• American debut: the first Kia sold in the United States.
• Many names: Mentor, Shuma, Spectra and Timor S5 in different markets.
• Long production: built in Korea, Egypt, Russia and Malaysia.

Kia Sephia versions

• Sephia (1992–1997): 1.5, 1.6 and 1.8-litre B-series engines.
• Mentor: the British and Australian name for the Sephia.
• Timor S5 (1996–2007): the Indonesian national-car version.
• Spectra (2000–2003): the liftback and later the whole second-generation range.
• Shuma (2000–2001): the Australian liftback before the Spectra name.

The Sephia replaced the Kia Capital and was followed by the Cerato, while its two-door relative was the Elan. More Kia models are in the Kia collection.

Sources

• Kia Sephia, English Wikipedia: both generations, engines, export markets, Timor S5