Kia Koup Concept news - Kia’s koncept kraziness - 2008

The Schreyer effect continues apace over at Kia. The Koreans nabbed the former Audi designer last year to liven up their stolid image, and already we're seeing the results of his furious scribblings in the shape of this, the Kia Koup concept (koncept, surely?) revealed at the New York show.

It's the second coupe concept from Kia in a short space of time - the canary-hued Kee surfaced back in Frankfurt last autumn - and it's certainly a more mature effort.

Large by European coupe standards, the Koup sits on the same platform as the Cee'd. There's plenty of Honda Civic and a touch of Evo X about the front end, but we don't mind that.

So does all this concept action mean we'll see a proper production Kia coupe soon? "You don't bring a designer like Peter Schreyer in just to design 4x4s," said our Hyundai UK source.

"We've got 12 or 13 new cars to launch over the next year or two, and we'd love to see a coupe in there."

With the exception of a few concept touches - neoprene carpets, anyone? - the Koup sounds fairly production viable.

It's powered by a turbocharged two-litre petrol engine putting out 290bhp, which sounds suspiciously like the powerplant out of the Evo X, an engine part-developed by Kia in Korea.

Don't expect an Evo-rivalling coupe monster to arrive any time soon, though. But a well-priced Audi TT rival with a bit of pep? We'd take that, thanks.