The Kia Retona is a small

mini SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

based on Kia's military jeeps. The name is a portmanteau of ''return to nature''. Developed by

Asia Motors Asia Motors Industries, traded as Asia Motors ( ko, 아시아자동차, ), was a South Korean car manufacturer established in 1965 and closed in 1999. From 1976 onwards, it was a subsidiary of Kia Motors. History In 1962, as one of the measu ...

, the car was initially sold as the "Asia Retona" in some markets. The Retona had been using the same platform as the first generation

Kia Sportage The Kia Sportage is a lineup of sport utility vehicles manufactured by the South Korean manufacturer Kia since 1993. Since 2004, the Sportage has been categorized as a compact crossover SUV, while previously it occupied the compact SUV class. It ...

Convertible. Its competitors included the Lada Niva, Suzuki Jimny and the

SsangYong Korando The SsangYong Korando ( Korean: 쌍용 코란도) is a mini SUV or compact crossover SUV built by the South Korean automobile manufacturer SsangYong from 1983 to 2006 and from 2010 onwards. The name Korando is a contraction of "Korea Can Do". The ...

. A 2006 survey of German owners by magazine

Auto Bild ''Auto Bild'' is a leading German automobile magazine based in Hamburg, Germany. History and profile ''Auto Bild'' was first published on the last week of February 1986. The magazine is published by Axel Springer AG on a weekly basis. The webs ...

found that the Retona was "abysmally" unreliable.

References

{{Kia timeline 1970–1999 Retona Mini sport utility vehicles 2000s cars Cars introduced in 1998