- Brought together – Picanto Runner and pizzas
- KIA gets cuter with pocket delivery conversion
- Perhaps the luxury version of delivery van?
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – KIA Motors SA has converted its Picanto budget family hatchback into a light delivery vehicle for businesses in South Africa. Perhaps one benefit of the current semi-lockdown that has brought a number of changes to the local automotive industry.
And given new impetus to the suburban development of entrepreneurial delivery services for localised distribution.
KIA describes the Picanto Runner – cute new name, KIA! – as ”a compact and cost-effective urban delivery vehicle offering all the comfort, convenience and safety features the hatchback”. After all, size sometimes does matter – as long as it is smaller…
Anyway – here’s what Stephen Crosse, KIA SA’s sales director, has to say…
PERFECT (PIZZA) DELIVERY BASE
“When you consider the rise of e-commerce, small businesses, and services-on-demand, especially under the ‘new normal’ brought about by Covid, there is a clear need for a compact delivery vehicle.
”The Picanto is a perfect base as such a vehicle: edgy styling, excellent fuel-efficiency, low maintenance costs and driver comfort – especially if compared to traditional delivery vehicles. Parking is easy, too.”
The Runner loses the rear bench to create a flat and secure load volume to which sturdy metal cargo dividers have been added, The rear windows have been laminated to (think tempting pizza and other easy-to-carry goodies – Ed.) keep stuff out of temptation’s way.
Depending on need, the Runner can be ordered with contravision on the windows or a full wrap (perhaps with advertising?) at a much more affordable cost thanks to the car’s compact dimensions – though it still has 820 litres of practical space and a payload of up to 350kg.
Which is a lot of pizza…
Crosse told The Corner in a media release: “The Runner has been created to be a safe and comfortable urban business partner. We’ve paid attention to capability, efficiency, comfort and running costs.”
READ MORE KIA features on Carman’s Corner
The Picanto Runner is based on the Picanto 1.0 Start, has a 49kW, one-litre, three-cylinder, quad-valve DOHC petrol engine and a five-speed manual transmission. The local supplier has also paid close attention to the driver’s comfort and safety: front crash-mitigation bags, central locking, anti-lock brakes (less damage to the piozzas!) and Data Dot security.
Already standard on the Runner are steering-0wheel controls, aircon, Bluetooth connectivity, an AUX / USB connection and Radio/MP3/RDS. The seats and steering are adjustable (not all deliverymen/persons are equal}.
More than equal are the Runners’ warranty and service plan: the same unlimited kilometres, five-year, warranty standard on all KIA vehicles and a two-year or 30 000km* service plan. EAch will also be covered by KIA’s care package intended for ”working” vehicles.
That last means a one-hour express service, courtesy vehicle rental, and ‘Premium’ roadside assistance which includes minor mechanical assistance, emergency fuel delivery, flat-tyre assistance, battery jump-start and towing, to name a few. (The pizzas might still be warm enough for delivery!) – Ed)
…AND SO TO THE PRICES…
The KIA Picanto Runner is available from any KIA Motors SA dealer for R198 995. (Which is a lot of pizzas!)
*Whichever is reached first.
