Kia is really getting into the wacky spirit of SEMA this year, as evidenced by the two themed customs the automaker is bringing to the Las Vegas this week. The first is the Radical Rio, fully decked-out for beach duty, and the second is the Hockey-Hatch Forte that, you guessed it, is hockey-themed. Kia collaborated on both cars with Antenna magazine, and it’s the third time the two have worked together to create SEMA concepts.
Radical Rio Five-Door
A gnarly Kia…? We think so. This surf-themed Radical Rio (pictured above) is way more than a 2012 Rio5 with a roof rack and reminds us of some Euro-tuned Volkswagen Golfs we’ve seen. To create the Radical Rio, Antenna’s people sprayed the little hatch an illustrious shade of Sunset-Metallic brown and bolted on a sweet set of gold, 17-inch three-piece wheels that look as though they were culled straight from a 1980s BBS catalog. The Radical Rio wears a custom body kit with a rear center-exit exhaust outlet and—get this—a wood front splitter. The whole car is topped off with a roof rack and a hand-made wood surfboard that matches the splitter.
Moving to the interior, the Rio’s seats, dashboard, and door panels are wrapped in brown and beige plaid waterproof fabric. A dark-brown suede headliner and wood grain on the center console add a touch of class to the Rio’s cabin. The rear seat gets a center console shelf that’s designed to hold your sun-tan lotion, surfboard wax, and bottled water. Finally, the car’s 1980s-style wheels are out-retro’d by a trunk-mounted “retro gaming console that plays ’80s-style arcade games [and] retro-looking record player.” We think the old-school hardware in the trunk is the only objectionable feature on the Radical Rio, and overall it’s pretty tastefully done for a SEMA ride.
Hockey-Hatch Forte Five-Door
Whereas the Radical Rio largely manages to avoid direct show-car kitsch, this Hockey-Hatch Forte five-door embraces it. As its name suggests, the Hockey-Hatch is themed after everyone’s favorite ice sport. The car’s exterior isn’t terribly wild, and makes do with a simple gray paint job, blue 18-inch wheels, a carbon-fiber roof, and an attractive body kit that includes the front bumper from the Forte Koup and cutouts for the quad-tipped exhaust outlets. As the saying goes, “It’s what’s on the inside that counts,” and it’s there that the Hockey-Hatch’s individuality shines.
The seats are upholstered in a combination of dark fabric and blue hockey-jersey material, and the floor is coated in the same rubberized flooring one finds at the rink. The rear bench seat was ditched in favor of two bucket seats to make room for a hockey stick holder that intrudes ski bag–style into the rear cabin area. Those rear chairs face two front headrest-mounted monitors hooked up to a PlayStation 3—pretty standard SEMA fare. Much more ridiculous is the mini air hockey table that slides out of the hatch, which is simultaneously SEMA- and Pimp My Ride–appropriate (we can just hear Xzibit now: “Yo dawg, we put an air hockey table—in your car!“). The silly factor is amped up by the inclusion of four carbon-fiber hockey sticks and two jerseys that match the Forte’s exterior, along with an ice-skate rack and hooks for “sweaty equipment.” No word from Kia on whether the Hockey-Hatch comes pre-saturated with the smell of hockey bag.
