Kia Justice League Concepts Celebrate Halloween at 2012 SEMA Show
Kia's Five Wild Concepts Uncovered at SEMA 2012
Kia is in the Halloween spirit at this year's SEMA show. The Korean automaker today unveiled its five Justice League inspired SEMA concepts, based on the Optima, Rio, Soul, Forte Koup, and Forte hatch. Built for charity in collaboration with DC Entertainment, the Justice League Kias honor Batman, The Flash, Aquaman, The Green Lantern, and Cyborg.
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We've already seen quite a few of the Justice League Kias; the Batman Optima SX Limitedwas unveiled in New York a few weeks ago, andThe Flash Forte KoupandGreen Lantern Soulwere teased last week, so the two biggest surprises paid tribute to Aquaman and Cyborg.
TheAquaman Rio hatch, built by West Coast Customs, features a fishy-looking exterior with a gold and green paint job, styled with scales to look like Aquaman's outfit. The Rio's exterior is finished off with a custom grille and massive (on a Rio) 20-inch wheels. Inside, West Coast Customs continued the Aquaman theme with green leather and yellow accents. The headliner was replaced with green suede, and the trunk features an underwater scene filled with Aquaman comics.
TheCyborg Forte 5-dooris another concept we hadn't yet seen. It gets an aggressively styled wide-body kit, made from metal, which reportedly seek to emulate Cyborg's ability to morph to fight crime. The Cyborg Forte also gets a silver pant job, and red LED lights to make the Forte look even more like its namesake. Inside, the Cyborg Forte features a red-on-red color scheme and a tablet mounted in the center console.
TheFlash Forte Koup was one concept that got teased last week. Like the Flash, the Flash Forte Koup is about performance. It gets a red, orange, and yellow exterior matching the Flash's costume, a custom coil over suspension, and 20-inch wheels wrapped in Continental rubber. Being a West Coast Customs concept, the Flash Forte Koup features two ten-inch subwoofers in the trunk, with a four-channel amp, and monitors mounted in the front headrests.
TheGreen Lantern Soulwas built by our sister magazineSuper Street.This wide-bodied Soul is wrapped in green and black paint with its rear doors welded shut for a more aggressive appearance. The Green Lantern Soul's deep dish wheels are custom one-off 18 by 10.5-inch pieces of art, featuring the Green Lantern's logo on them.
Check out the gallery below for an up-close and personal look at all of Kia's Justice League Concepts.
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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