Detailed: The 2018 Kia Stinger

For every auto show rule there is an exception. This year at the North American International Auto Show, the outlier is the Kia Stinger, a rear-wheel drive sports sedan. In a show that skimps on splash and sizzle, Kia is taking aim at the German car market and the svelte BMW 4 Series of the world. It’s an intentional strategy by the South Korean automaker to stand out from the pack. Kia is banking on infusing razzle dazzle to its more pedestrian product lineup. And it wants the US market to know its here to tango.

Fluid lines, a long, elegant swoop of a hood, and tight rear quarters are integral to its racy physique. The Kia Stinger has two engines; the juicier option is the 3.3-liter V6 that makes 365 horsepower and clocks 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5.1 seconds. The Stinger is available in rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive. Driving enthusiasts will go crazy for the rear-wheel drive option, but in this Detroit wintery weather, all-wheel drive certainly has its appeal. Kia is only offering an 8-speed automatic transmission.

Kia has said for years that it would build a rear wheel drive sedan, and now it’s doubling down on its promise. The GT4 Stinger concept graced the Detroit stage three years ago, but then seemed to fade away. Kia’s current top-selling model is the Soul, a boxy and quirky crossover. And while a Stinger isn’t going to cut into the crossover market, it could get Kia the brand respect it desires.

In the world of sports cars, the sting is usually associated with the iconic Corvette Stingray, certainly not Kia. But the game and how its players maneuver is changing at this auto show where news and practical production giants loom large. Kia offers welcome reprieve, a car that we haven’t seen before that has looks and personality, like car show of days past. We care about the tech inside of car, but we have to admit, it’s fun to see a car that has some oomph to it.

Photography by: Sean O’Kane

Source

First Drive: With 2018 Stinger, Kia Has A Worthy Challenger To German Premium Sedans

“Drifting exercises will take place on the concrete skidpad,” instructs Albert Biermann, the gentleman tasked with heading testing and high performance development of Kia’s upcoming sport sedan. While the words ‘drifting’ and ‘Kia’ have been mutually exclusive for the past twenty years ― never to touch each other in the same sentence ― the South Korean automaker is drastically altering its course. Later this year, Kia will launch the 2018 Kia Stinger ― a turbocharged, rear-wheel drive, four-door engineered to compete directly against the Audi A5 Sportback and BMW 4 Series Grand Coupe.

You read that correctly. Kia, an automaker that made a name for itself with reliable, low-cost, vehicles targeting mainstream consumers has realigned its sights. The premium sedan segment, dominated by a handful of Europeans for years, is now in its crosshairs.

“The new Kia Stinger is a true gran turismo, a car for spirited long-distance driving,” explains Gregory Guillaume, Kia Motors Europe’s Chief Designer. “It’s not about outright power, hard-edged dynamics and brutal styling all at the expense of luxury, comfort and grace. The Stinger has nothing to do with being the first to arrive at the destination – this car is all about the journey. It’s about passion.”

2018 Kia Stinger - Photo courtesy Kia Motors

The passion that Guillaume romanticizes about was sparked by the Kia GT concept that was revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011. That forward-looking prototype was a powerful rear-wheel drive sport sedan that tugged at the heart of Kia’s car enthusiast designers (and, being frank, most passers-by at the European auto show). “The Kia design team is full of car guys and girls. Cars are deeply rooted in our culture. We love cars - they’re in our hearts and in our blood,” professes Guillaume. The glistening pearl white GT concept would be the catalyst for the production of the Stinger, an all-new vehicle with a name paying homage to the GT4 Stinger concept revealed at the Detroit Auto Show in 2014.

Five years after the concept debuted in Frankfurt, I’m standing in a building at Kia’s research and design center outside Seoul, South Korea, peering at a near production-ready Stinger sedan — and it appears, at first glance, undeniably striking.

2018 Kia Stinger - Photo courtesy Kia Motors

As expected, some of the radical show car touches meant for flair (e.g., rear-hinged back doors, flush handles and exterior mirrors mounted on the quarter panels) have disappeared, but the overall theme — a sporty and aggressively styled fastback — has been retained. A tape measure reveals that it is physically longer, wider, and taller than the Audi and BMW that it will compete against. Its overall look, led by Kia’s signature ‘Tiger Nose’ front grille, is well-proportioned and very European ― I see hints of Audi and Porsche from various angles. The design is fresh, cohesive and not over-styled like many of today’s Asian offerings.

The interior cleverly borrows more styling cues from the Europeans ― Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar come to mind. The cabin is intelligently configured, more traditional than futuristic, with a sporty upscale feel and premium materials. Best of all, the Stinger’s greater exterior dimensions and longer wheelbase translate to more passenger room than within the Audi A5 Sportback and BMW 4 Series Grand Coupe.

Source

The Kia Soul Exclaim Adds Pep to Its Boxy Figure

IN 2009, when the Kia Soul was introduced, it was roundly criticized as a blatant copy of the square-shaped Scion xB. At the time, Toyota’s youth brand had sold an average of 46,000 xBs annually over six years to coveted younger buyers, a good reason for Kia to go to the square-shaped well.

The combination of practicality, affordability and hipster-hamster marketing has made the Soul so successful it’s often neck and neck with the Optima as Kia’s best-selling car. On track to sell more than 150,000 copies in North America for 2016, the Soul has outlived other boxes such as the Nissan Cube, the Honda Element and, of course, the xB (R.I.P. Scion).

How do you improve a sales powerhouse? Well, add power of course.

That is what Kia has done with the 2017 Exclaim model (or “!” in Kia-speak), dropping in a 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. This motor runs exclusively with a sure-shifting 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The lower-rung Plus (or “+”) model has a standard 6-speed automatic.

At 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque, the Exclaim increases the Plus’s 2-liter 4-cylinder by 40 horsepower and 45 pound-feet of torque. Consider it your hamster on speed.

This is not, though, South Korea’s answer to the vaunted Volkswagen GTI. The German GTI is built of not just metal, glass and plastic, but a dash of magic as well. The Soul is quick (0 to 60 miles an hour in about 7.7 seconds), but its taller stance and numb steering keep it from being quite as nimble.

Still, the Soul turbo is fun enough to fling about town. Its size is perfect for urban skirmishes, and the slightly retuned suspension keeps comfort up and body movements buttoned down. Enthusiasts will demand more road feel through the steering wheel, a sporty D-shaped version that lacks transmission paddle shifters. Hello? Marketing department?

There is also lag when the pedal hits the carpet hard. That can be reduced by switching to sport mode, but it still remains to a degree. Torque steer, that tugging of the steering wheel that powerful front-drive cars can exhibit, is commendably low. All-wheel drive is not available. At speed, there is plenty of passing power.

The Soul’s shape is as aerodynamic as a house, so freeway speeds bring some wind noise, but the vehicle is otherwise moderately quiet. Its form factor scrubs off fuel economy, too. Still, the turbo engine is the most fuel-efficient way to move a Soul. The Environmental Protection Agency rates its mileage at 26 city and 31 highway, about a mile per gallon better than the other two available engines. I saw 27 m.p.g. on specified standard grade gas in a week’s worth of spirited driving.

The cabin is constructed of quality soft-touch materials and rich-looking piano-black trim. A penalty box this is not. Well-bolstered and wide leather-trimmed seats have cloth inserts with a fashion-forward houndstooth pattern. Tall people looking for a small car will appreciate the lofty headroom.

Fully loaded with the $3,000 tech and $1,000 sunroof packages, the Exclaim sells for $27,500. Seem steep? Some luxury cars lack this car’s kit. There is navigation, a heated steering wheel, heated seats front and back, blind-spot warning, cross-path detection, a loud (if not overly accurate) Harman Kardon sound system with LED pulsing speaker grilles and a full glass roof that makes the Soul a rolling greenhouse. A mercifully simple touch-screen user interface that rodents could master features Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Oddly, this top Exclaim model cannot be equipped with forward collision warning, an increasingly common safety feature, the way the Plus models can.

Passengers in back get seats that support thighs well and a USB port to charge phones. There’s ample room for two people, and it is not bad for three, considering the Soul’s size.

That means the cargo area, as tall as it is, is somewhat shallow. But drop the 60/40 split seat backs and it opens up a box so large, Pandora might lure those evil spirits she freed back for roomy residence. The rest of us will comfortably stash bikes and Ikea furniture.

A base Soul equipped with a 6-speed manual transmission and a 130-horsepower 4-cylinder engine retails for $16,840 if all you need is an affordable way to haul people and cargo. The Exclaim’s turbo power earns its “!” designation. The design might be polarizing, but Soul shapes up as a decent deal.

Source

Record December Propels Kia Motors To Best-Ever Annual Sales In The U.S.

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Capping off an historic year that saw the Kia brand collect more third-party awards and accolades for quality and reliability than ever before, Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced all-time best annual sales of 647,598 vehicles in 2016, up 3.5 percent over 2015. The year concluded with best-ever fourth quarter sales, including the highest December total in company history of 54,353 units.

Kia's record-breaking year included several standout performances, including:

• Four nameplates – Soul, Optima, Sorento and Forte – surpassing the 100,000 unit mark for the first time in company history
• The iconic Soul urban passenger vehicle earning the title of best-selling Kia in the U.S.
• Best-ever annual sales for the Sportage compact CUV and Forte family of compact cars, up more than 50 percent and 30 percent, respectively, over 2015
• Double digit year-over-year increases for Rio and Sedona

"From J.D. Power and Consumer Reports to many other respected third-party experts, Kia has never been more highly rated for quality and dependability, and customers flocked to our showrooms in December and throughout 2016 to experience all that the 'New Kia' offers," said Michael Sprague, chief operating officer and EVP, KMA. "No auto brand has experienced greater growth in the U.S. over the last 20-plus years, and Kia will be on the offensive once again in 2017 with several new products in the pipeline that will continue challenging everything people think they know about this brand, starting with a major world debut next week in Detroit."

Source

	MONTH OF DECEMBER		YEAR-TO-DATE
Model	2016	2015	2016	2015
Rio	1,269	997	28,700	23,742
Forte	7,560	5,411	103,292	78,919
Optima	12,572	13,682	124,203	159,414
Cadenza	428	598	4,738	7,343
K900	80	162	834	2,524
Sportage	6,207	6,044	81,066	53,739
Sorento	11,782	12,872	114,733	116,249
Sedona	2,028	2,316	44,264	36,755
Soul	12,427	12,159	145,768	147,133
Total	54,353	54,241	647,598	625,818

The Curve Ahead - The new Kia GT