Kia Motors has been presented by TÜV with two certificates which recognise the environmental design and manufacturing processes behind the Kia cee'd car. TÜV presented Kia with DFE (ISO 14062, Design for Environment) and a LCA (ISO 14040, Life Cycle Assessment) environment certificates in Seoul on 25 April, after inspection of the company's design operations and the manufacturing facility at Zilina in Slovakia.

The Kia cee'd, designed for and made in Europe, is the first Korean car to receive such recognition.

Hyoung-Keun Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and COO of the International Business Division of Kia Motors, said, ¡°Our Zilina facility was environmentally certified in 2007 and later this year we will start manufacturing cee'd vehicles with fuel-stretching and CO2 reducing technologies from our experimental eco_cee'd line-up.¡±

DFE (ISO 14062) evaluates a car's environmental friendliness during its design and development, plus the ease with which the car can be disassembled and its level of recyclability. DFE also requires that the assembly plant for the car reaches ISO 14001.

LCA (ISO 14040) examines both the car's overall manufacturing process and its lifetime environmental impact, including choice of materials and measures to reduce fuel consumption and engine exhaust emissions. The cee'd features lightweight all-aluminium engines and Kenaf (a form of jute) recycled materials form its door trim panels.