The arrival of the new Cee'd is set to be a very strong challenge to the small family cars by Ford, VW and Toyota.

The reason, apart from the keen pricing, is the seven-year warranty Kia is offering on the powertrain.

The rest of the car gets a five-year/150,000km warranty. The Kia will compete with Focus, Golf and Auris, which is the new hatchback from Toyota due early next year.

James Brooks, managing director of Kia Motors Ireland, has disclosed prices of 19,495 for the five-door LX version and 20,995 for the higher spec EX model.

Both are five-door hatchback models and are powered by a 1.4 litrepetrol engine. Later there will be options for 1.6-litre petrol and 1.6-litre diesel engines. Brooks says he is confident Kia will sell over 1,000 models next year.

The arrival of the new Cee'd comes as the company has made big gains in the Irish and European markets. Europe is now Kia's largest market, eclipsing North America for the first time.

The Cee'd is produced at a new plant in Slovakia and the very first models off the production line are coming to Ireland.

It is planned to extend the line-up with an estate version later next year as well as a three-door sporty version in January 2008.

The equipment levels on the LX version include automatic speed-sensing door locks, six airbags, electric front windows, audio controls on steering wheel, MP3 compatibility and tinted glass.

The EX gets 16" alloy wheels, iPod connection and air-conditioning. A TX version is also available and this model has 16" alloy wheels, ESP stability control programme with Brake Assist, fully automatic air-conditioning, leather or cloth seats, four electric windows and a luggage retaining net.

The 1.4-litre petrol engine . . . with a power output of 109 PS at 6,200 rpm . . . will be the main seller here. The 1.6-litre alternative produces 122 PS at 6200 rpm. Both come with a five-speed manual transmission.

The arrival of the new Kia is bound to spark off a C-segment war for sales as Mazda has also introduced a Mazda 3 version for under 20,000 so it will be interesting to see how the big players in this sector respond when sales start in earnest in the new year.