Korean carmaker Kia has withdrawn a plan to brand its new concept super-mini sports model “Provo”.
The last-minute change of plan by the multinational motor manufacturer followed a unionist outburst of condemnation and a parliamentary bid by East Derry MP Gregory Campbell to have the plan urgently reviewed.
The name offended those who had suffered at the hands of the Provisional IRA over 30 years, he said.
Concept car
According to the Kia the concept car is a “road-legal racer” designed to “set the streets alight” while wowing its new owners with fittings such as “blood-orange toggle for the hazard warning lights” and use of “blood-orange stiching”.
Aimed at direct competition for other super-minis and larger models such as the Nissan Juke, the proposed Provo is being promoted by its developers as having a “button-activated creep-mode at low speeds to avoid emissions in city traffic or when ‘stealth’ is required”.
‘Bad boy’
However, the striking design of the “bad-boy” concept model has succeeded only in striking up a protest in Northern Ireland. Mr Campbell yesterday tabled a House of Commons motion demanding a radical rethink.
“The campaign of IRA terrorism was not simply limited to Northern Ireland, but to the rest of the United Kingdom and even parts of mainland Europe such as Germany where it is understood the name was chosen at the company’s European headquarters in Frankfurt,” he complained.
“In this case there can be little doubt about the offensiveness of the name, not least to those who suffered directly at the hands of Provisional IRA sectarian murderers.”
Kia quickly moved to contain the local PR disaster by announcing the car would be given another name if production goes ahead in the UK.
A company spokesman assured UTV last night: “There was absolutely no intention to cause offence.”