The Korean report suggested that Kia Stinger Near death, but Kia Australia says it expects the big liftback to survive.
Asked about Stinger’s future, Damien Meredith, Kia Australia’s chief operating officer, said: “At the operational level, the future is great.”
“We haven’t heard any official word from Korea on whether we’re moving to a new model for the Stinger, so we’re happy at the moment that we’re getting great supply for the car and it’s doing exceptionally well. In the market. “
A report from Korean Car Blog Last year Kia said it would finish production of the Stinger in the second quarter of 2022, and the plant would be reopened to create a new hybrid version of the Carnival People Mover.
A report from Korea Everyday cars The same week it was announced that Stinger production would end in the second half of 2022. Either way, these reports usually point to an orbit before the end of Stinger’s life cycle in 2024.
Roland Rivero, General Manager, Product Planning, Kia Australia, said: “We did not hide the fact that we consider the EV6 to be our new Hello product from a technology and performance standpoint, noting that the EV6 brand is also bringing new buyers.
“You will always have ICE people who would never want to flip, who are almost heavy against flips in EV. And Stinger is still going to benefit from that for a while. “
Stinger is still doing well for Kia Australia, with sales up 203.8 percent in April and 53.3 percent so far this year.
Mr. Rivero says Care Expert In May the company continued to work with lots of Stinger backorder “still a few months worth of back up”. The flagship GT accounted for more than 90 percent of sales, and with the death of the Chrysler 300 the only mainstream rear-wheel drive sports sedan on offer in Australia.
It has become a favorite of some Australian police forces, who have used it to replace Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon.
This is a much less pink picture in other markets. Large liftbacks are no longer sold in China, where they were only imported and hence tariffs were levied. Chinese buyers generally prefer conventional three-box sedans.
In Europe, it has not always been helped by the lack of a special player, the electrified powertrain, while Korea has overtaken the mechanically-related but smaller Genesis G70 in its race to sell it in its home market.
Like the Chinese market, Korean buyers generally prefer three-box sedans.
Stinger’s last, best hope was the US market, which is known to embrace high-powered sedans like the V8-powered Dodge Charger variant, despite the relentless rise of the SUV.
Alas, Kia has sold only 12-16,000 Stingers annually since its launch there.
According to last year CarcellbaseKia has sold 13,517 Stingers in the United States.
Excluding closed models and low-volume hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles, the Stinger was the second best-selling mid-size with a mainstream nameplate, surpassing only the Volkswagen Artion (5537).
Kia has sold six times more than its Optima-replacement K5, although it carries a much lower base price and a wider range of more affordable options.
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