By Mike Rutherford

11th October 2006

I must have done more than 100 motor shows in a dozen or more countries, but it wasn't until this month's Paris expo that I was left blushing like a naughty school boy. As briefly mentioned in this week's Rumour Mill column, a little company called Acrea was to blame. It has a funky little green (by nature and colour) convertible that you might expect a bearded, humourless eco-warrior to be responsible for marketing. But no, that job fell to a beautiful young woman with supermodel features and the warmest smile in the French capital. Not that many people were looking at her face! She stood up - proudly - in the doorless and roofless car, and boy, did she pull in the crowds. Why? Because she was, er... naked.

	Kia has set a new industry warranty standard by providing future buyers of its Cee’d with seven years’ peace of mind

Actually, that's not entirely true. She was wearing thin, bio-degradable green paint and make-up. And nothing else. An onlooker accurately quipped that if any company or woman tried such a publicity stunt in politic­ally correct Britain, the female and firm in question would probably be thrown out of the exhibition and the show closed down. But in Paris, more than anywhere else in the world (with the possible exception of Tokyo), sex is unashamedly used to sell motors. Whatever your views on cheap, provocative, glamour girl-led gimmicks to draw attention to exhibitors and their products, they seem to be doing the trick, because it's currently a two-way battle between France and Japan for the title of the planet's most popular car exhibition.

I'd have guessed that the US's Detroit show would have attracted the most visitors, but it pulls in only 800,000 people, while Geneva does worse with nearly 700,000. Frankfurt attracts almost a million, while the Paris figure is regularly around 1.4 million. But Tokyo has the edge, with more than one-and-a-half million visitors squeezing through the turnstiles. By now, you've already seen the important news and pic­tures from the French capital. But, for me, the most significant announcement came from Kia, which is proving itself to be the most improved and fastest-expanding car brand in the world. Not content with signing up some top global motor industry talent, it is putting the finishing touches to its first European plant. And, best of all, it has just announced a seven-year warranty on the range of Cee'd cars the new factory will build.

But before I congratulate the firm for introducing this 84-month guarantee, I should remind you that it is subject to a 100,000-mile limit, so high-mileage drivers might be better off with a five-year unlimited-mileage warranty from Hyundai or even a similar three-year deal from Daihatsu, MINI, Mitsubishi or Smart.

And in an ironic twist, all other models in the Kia range will also be covered for 36 months with no limit on distance when the seven-year/100k Cee'd offer kicks in. But credit where credit's due. Kia has thrown down the gauntlet, given future buyers of the Cee'd seven years' peace of mind and, in the process, set a European industry standard for warranties. The cover is transferable from owner to owner, too.

Kia Europe boss Jean-Charles Lievens is an experienced car guy. He admits he doesn't have the greatest model range, but he personally assured me in Paris that the new Cee'd is better than the rival Toyota Corolla. Had anyone else said that, I'd have laughed my socks off. But such bold optimism from a realistic and modest man such as J-C forces me to take the comment seriously. Who'd have thought it, eh? A Kia that's better - allegedly - than a Toyota which, incidentally, comes with only a stingy three-year/60,000-mile warranty.

Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV's Pulling Power and is founder of the Motorists' Association

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