Marketing: Kia Offers Brits Drive-Thru Dating

LONDON — Sure, it's a PR stunt, but it's a cute one.

As part of the campaign to promote its new minicar, the Picanto Date, Kia Motors U.K. over the weekend hosted its first Drive Dating event.

The idea was simple: Put 20 young females together with 20 young males in the front seats of 20 Picanto Dates, add appropriate mood music (along with some "icebreaker" dialogue), give each couple three minutes to get acquainted, then motor on over to a local pub to continue the conversations.

Kia elected to host the initial mash-up, appropriately enough, at the London Zoo, with the next Drive Dating event scheduled June 22 at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry.

After each event, Kia U.K. says its nosy PR staff will keep in touch with the drive daters "to find out which couples get each other's motor racing."