Kia will launch its new sports car “by
the end of the decade”, according to UK boss Paul Philpott.
Details
of the new model are limited, although Kia says it will draw
from the knowledge it has gained from developing the widely admired GT and
Stinger GT4 concepts. The GT is an elegantly aggressive four-door, rear-drive
coupé, while the Stinger is a more compact coupé in the mould of the Toyota
GT86.
The new
car will be a model in its own right rather than being based on another Kia and will be “affordable”,
according to Philpott. He added that it will need to be sold worldwide to
achieve viable production numbers.
Such a
move means the US market will influence its format heavily, although Philpott
expects the model to contribute usefully to Kia’s ambition of selling
100,000 cars annually in the UK before the decade is out. This year the company
expects to sell slightly more than 80,000 vehicles here.
Philpott
also confirmed that a B-segment crossover, designed to compete with Nissan’s
Juke, will arrive within two years. Kia previewed a possible
crossover with the Provo concept at the 2013 Geneva motor show. “We’ll do it
right and be a force to be reckoned with,” said Philpott.
Following
a relatively slow period of new model introduction - the latest Sorento is the
brand’s only new model in 2015 - there is set to be a spate of new models from Kia as several
models approach the end of their six-year life cycles.
Key
among these will be the replacement for the best-selling Sportage crossover. It
will appear early next year, preceded by the UK launch of the new Optima saloon
revealed at the New York motor show in April.
The
next Picanto will arrive in 2017, but no date has yet been set for the debut of
the new sports car.
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