An Italian musical term used to describe an elaborate, ornamental flourish - and also the name of a heavily-ornamented, V6-engined luxury large car, revealed with a flourish by Kia.

That's the Cadenza, and while this 3.5-litre sedan not on Kia New Zealand's song sheet just at the moment, there's potential for it - or something similar - in the marketplace, brand boss Todd McDonald says.

Korean cars are among the few success stories in a recession-ravaged New Zealand new car market this year.

Rising brand Kia is soon to add two new products, the Cerato Koup and the Sorento sports ute, to a stable already bolstered this year by the well-received Cerato sedan and the streetwise Soul hatchback.

But as much as Kia New Zealand might aspire to one day have a big car to take on the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon, Cadenza is not in tune with planning here, for one simple reason. It is initially being produced only in left-hand drive.

But, in theory, yes, Mr McDonald agrees, a Cadenza-sized car is ultimately going to come. And he'll welcome its arrival, perhaps in just two or three years.

While head office cites the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class as rivals, here a big Kia would face off against the Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon, Toyota Aurion and the Nissan Maxima.

"We'd compete directly, but the New Zealand market actually has to change in buyer demographic, and buyer desire, to make it work," Mr McDonald said.

"There's always going to be a need for something of that size as a flagship model. If it was available in right-hand drive, would we bring it into New Zealand? Yes.

"We'd be looking for small business owners and senior executives buying luxury cars from a value price perspective. But the market has a fair bit to change, and the likes of the Kia brand will become a lot more popular because of that.

"A car like the Cadenza could open a lot of new doors."

He is not concerned that Cadenza would take Kia into the same battlefield where the similarly-sized and specced Grandeur from parent brand Hyundai was blooded - and bloodied.

Hyundai NZ was certain a sharp price and tons of kit would make the Grandeur a surefire sales success when it launched in 2007, and some of my colleagues eagerly went along for the ride. Yet, even in taxi fleet-friendly diesel form, it has failed to fire. When was the last time you saw one of those? In fact, when was the first?

Mr McDonald reckoned Grandeur arrived at a difficult time, but he says Hyundai has now gone to an even larger, more opulent car, the V8-engined Genesis. Again, it's not yet for right-hand drive, but shows the direction Korea's most powerful marque is heading.

So perhaps the time isn't really right for Cadenza anyway, though it at least appears have some immediate styling advantages over the Hyundai.

Whereas the Grandeur has an Americanised (if not Camry-ised) look, the Kia is more Euro, with hints of BMW 3-Series and Saab 9-5.

Shaped under the direction of Peter Schreyer - you're right, that's not a Korean name (he's German and ex-Audi) - the car's design highlights include a prominent front grille and aggressive-looking headlights surrounded by LEDs. The face also incorporates the 'Schreyer line' styling ethos already seen locally on the Cerato and Soul.

The interior also takes a 'floating' dashboard and a mood-lighting strip to bathe the interior in a warm glow. Not exactly new ideas - you'll see this already on BMWs, Mercs and Jaguar's XF - but effective nonetheless.

Luxury gadgets run to a heated steering wheel, powered extendable seat cushions and ventilated, 'cooling' front seats.

Cadenza will go on sale with a 203kW 3.5-litre V6 but other engines appear to be in the wind, including a smaller capacity unit with equal output.

The car will make its public debut in late 2009 at various motor shows in the Middle East and even if we never get to see it in the metal, we may see something of it in another forthcoming product.

There's talk this design will also influence the look of the next-generation Magentis mid-sized sedan due towards the end of 2010.

Another Kia set to byass us because it is also only produced in left-hook form is the Venga, a compact MPV in the Ford Fiesta class. It was revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show as the second European-focussed Kia, following the Cee'd (sister car to the Hyundai i30, also off-limits - but due to cost), and will be built in the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, Kia NZ has landed itself in trouble with the Motor Trade Association for publicising that it scored particularly well in an annual MTA survey of dealer attitudes toward their distributor.

Having crowed how it either topped or finished highly in several of the categories judged by the association, Kia has now had to backtrack, acknowledging that the information was confidential to the MTA and should have been kept that way.

Kia had been particularly chuffed about scoring highly in an 'ease of doing business' category, and of having rated alongside Mazda and ahead of Ford, Toyota, Honda, Holden and others in the overall satisfaction category.

What this means to you: Kia is a brand on the move, but big cars have yet to work for the Koreans.