ANYONE NOTICED HOW SIMILAR SAURKRAUT AND KIMCHI ARE? KIA STINGER YA?
AS KOREAN AS KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN AND CHEESE, THE STINGER TAKES AIM (NO PUN INTENDED) AT 4-SERIES GRAN COUPE AND AUDI A5 SPORTBACK ET AL
Ogling to attract attention among the bright lights of Detroit, Kia has unveiled a new rear drive sports saloon designed to take on German rivals like the 4-series Gran Coupe and Audi A5 Sportback. It may seem a little out of the blue for European tastes, but the ‘Stinger’ comes from over ten years of Kia/Hyundai’s assault on the American saloon market.
Based on a shortened version of Hyundai's Genesis platform, the Stinger is the Korean brand’s first in many forays, including a performance orientated 3.3 V6 Twin Turbo engine, limited slip diff (or torque vectoring on LHD AWD models) and adaptive dampers. A smaller 2.0 Turbocharged four-cylinder petrol will also be available, but it remains to be seen if Kia will tailor the Stinger to European tastes with a diesel engine. Taking designer Peter Schreyer’s language to a new level, the Stingers exhibits familiar cues seen in the Optima sedan, but transplants those onto a far more pleasing set of proportions. To accentuate the rear wheel drive layout, the long bonnet, short tail and aggressive new front fascia all combine to create a satisfyingly unique look in the increasingly safe premium car game.
It is not without flaws though, the lower bumpers front and rear suffer from the same problem lots of other new cars in that they are far too complex. The rear side vents that sit either side of the exhaust outlets over accentuate the rear overhang, as such combined with the fastback roofline make the rear end of the car hang too low. Likewise the distinctive tail lights, which worked well on the concept of a couple of years ago, look fussy and a little pointless as the wrap around component is not only lost on the red show car, but also doesn’t illuminate with the rest of the tail lights. If I were being unkind I would say at a glance the Stinger has a bit too much late model Laguna to it.
Inside, Kia has pleasingly introduced an all new design language, again not helped on the press car with its all over brown leather (this is surely going to be just like we see an Austin Princess with a brown interior and think why would someone spec that..?). Looking perhaps a little too Mercedes-Benz like with ‘turbine’ inspired HVAC vents and floating screen, it is thus still a vast improvement on other current Kia models, lacking the blobby appearance seen in the Sorrento and Sportage. With a longer wheelbase than the aforementioned BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe, the Stinger should treat back seat passengers with a fair amount more room helping with it’s GT aspirations.
The thing is, this is a halo product, and although it is great to see previously limp manufacturers like Kia with interesting performance orientated models like this, I struggle to think of people who will actually buy them. Most that buy premium models do so for that reason. Kia, despite its leaps in engineering and execution over the last 10 years are still Kia. What the Stinger will most likely do is attract those who have already make the leap to high specification Optima’s. There is one exception however; Australia, home of the unpretentious sports saloon has plenty of buyers after affordable, exciting and not German product now the homegrown Commodore and Falcon have (mostly) been put out to pasture. So key here is the drive then, it will need to be revolutionary, and Kia certainly have the resources to pull it off, we’ll have to wait till the summer to find out if they cracked it.
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