Kia's Compact SUV Firms

Small SUV from Korean car-maker will arrive "sooner rather than later"

 

The sub-$25,000 compact SUV segment is generating a huge amount of interest among car-makers – and buyers – but one brand that's conspicuous by its absence from the genre is Kia.

That situation is looking increasingly likely to change with more talk of an all-new city-crossover on the horizon.

Although there's still no firm timeline on when Kia will wade into the segment, which is dominated by vehicles such as the Holden Trax and Mitsubishi ASX in Australia, Kia Motors Australia CEO Damien Meredith told motoring.com.au he expects his company's absence in the segment to be filled soon.

"I'm pretty sure there's a fair bit happening at Namyang in regards to that [compact SUV] for all markets."

He mentioned 'all markets' because Kia already sells a compact SUV, the KX3 (pictured), in China, while sister company Hyundai has the ix25 also available exclusively in China.

It has previously been stated that both Kia and Hyundai models are China-only vehicles, but Meredith implies that the KX3 and ix25 will be leveraged for mature markets such as Europe, the US and Australia.

"The group has two compact SUVs in regards to China. Whilst China is, let's call it, a segmented market, I think [those vehicles] will eventuate in other markets. So to answer your question I think, yes, it's sooner rather than later."

Kia's (and Hyundai's) German-born chief of design, Peter Schreyer, told motoring.com.au at the 2014 New York motor show that the company needs a compact SUV, and one possibility is a production version of the Niro concept from 2013.

The influential Kia executive later expounded on his desire to produce a 'lifestyle' B-segment crossover akin to the Nissan Juke when interviewed at October's Paris motor show. But until we see a near-production concept it remains to be seen which design direction the new model will take – pragmatic or poseur.

Meredith said "I get the feeling that [KX3] will disseminate globally". But he also noted that a Cerato-sized SUV from Kia might impinge on one of its best-sellers, the larger Sportage medium SUV.

The latter starts at just $25,990 -- very close to some compact SUVs – but an all-new Sportage arriving here late in 2015 could head upmarket to accommodate a model like the KX3.

"There's been a bit of success with the competitors' [compact SUVs] so we have got to look at it seriously. But there's a lot of transactional pricing occurring where those base small SUVs are coming down in price to compete in the compact SUV market, that $25K, 26K bracket.

"We can get the volume and growth we require from Sportage at the moment but, having said that, I'd love one [compact SUV].

Kia, Hyundai and Toyota will be the most notable mainstream brand not represented in the growing compact crossover sector by the end of 2015 – a year in which it will have been joined by Renault (Captur), Honda (HR-V), Mazda (CX-3), Jeep (Renegade), Suzuki (Vitara), Fiat (500X) and Ssangyong (Tivoli).

"You always want to be in a segment that’s going to be successful," enthused Meredith.

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