Kia Motors has released high-performance GT (Gran Turismo) car called ‘Stinger’ and presented its goal to sell more than 1,000 Stingers per month. It already sold more than 2,000 stingers during a preorder period which had recently taken place for 8 days. With acceleration speed that reaches up to 100km in just 4.9 seconds and partial self-driving technology, Kia Motors is planning to go face to face with BMW 3 and 4 series and Audi’s A5 Sportback.
Kia Motors (CEO Park Han-woo) officially released Stinger to South Korean market while 250 people including Vice-Chairman Lee Hyeong-geun of Kia Motors and President Park Han-woo of Kia Motors were in attendance at Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas on the 23rd and has started selling Stinger on full-scale.
Stinger is a mass-production model that is made based on design of concept car ‘GT’ which was introduced at Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011.
Chief Designer Gregory Guillaume of Kia Motors Europe Design Center explained that Stinger emphasizes design of ‘GT’ as much as possible and it is applied with pleasure of trips.
Kia Motors chose professional and successful males between ages of 30 and 40 as major targets for Stinger. Its goal is to sell 8,000 Stingers by end of this year and 12,000 Stingers by end of next year and is hoping to sell more than 1,000 Stingers per month. So far there had been about 2,000 preorders for Stinger which started on the 11th.
“Stinger is a rear-wheel drive sedan with innovative style and dynamic drive performance and it will compete with BMW ‘4 series gran coupe’ and Audi ‘A5 Sportback’.” said PM Park Sang-hyeon of Kia Motors who oversees mid-sized and large cars from Kia Motors.
Stinger will come with three different engine lineups and they are 3.3 turbo gasoline, 2.0 turbo gasoline, and 2.2 diesel. 2nd generation rear 8-axel automatic transmission from its previous model will come as a basic specification.
3.3 turbo gasoline model has maximum torque of 370 horsepower and maximum torque of 52.0 kgf.m and it exhibits the best power compared to all the cars that are at same level as Stinger. It can reach up to 100km within just 4.9 seconds at a complete stop and this is the fastest acceleration speed out of all cars from Kia Motors. Its mixed mileage is 8.8 km/l. 42.3% of current 2,000 preorders are for 3.3 turbo model.
2.0 turbo gasoline model has implemented powerful power performance of maximum output of 255 horsepower and maximum torque of 36.0 kgf.m and its mixed mileage is 10.4 km/l. 2.2 diesel model has power performance (mixed mileage: 14.8 km/l) of maximum output of 202 horsepower and maximum torque of 45.0 kgf.m.
Characteristics of rear-wheel drive platform that is applied to ‘Stinger’ optimization of engine room through turbo engine, equal distribution of weight of the front and the back and low-centred design, and spacious inside space through lower backseats.
For the first time, Kia Motors is allowing customers to choose AWD (All-Wheel Drive) system, which improves safety of driving, from all models of Stinger depending on their preference. Also drivers can choose 5 different driving methods and they are: sport, comfort, echo, smart, and custom.
Stinger is applied with high-tech safe driving technology called ‘DRIVE WISE’. DRIVE WISE is applied with HDA (Highway Driving Assist) and allows partial self-driving. Stinger is also applied with FCA (Forward Collision Avoidance), SCC (Smart Cruise Control), LKA (Lane Keep Assist), DAW (Driver Awareness Warning), and HBA (High Beam Assist).
Prices of Stinger, which will be delivered starting from the 23rd, are going to be $31,096 (35 million KRW) for 2.0 Turbo Prime, $33,584 (37.8 million KRW) for 2.0 Turbo Platinum, $33,051 (37.2 million KRW) for 2.2 Diesel Prime, $35,805 (40.3 million KRW) for 2.2 Diesel Platinum, $39,625 (44.6 million KRW) for 3.3 Turbo Masters, and $43,357 (48.8 million KRW) for 3.3 Turbo GT. Compared to imported sports sedans, they are about $8,885 to $17,769 (10 million KRW to 20 million KRW) cheaper.
Kia Motors is going to start expanding lineup of its luxury cars starting with Stinger. In fact, Stinger uses a separate emblem called ‘E’ instead of ‘KIA’.
Staff Reporter Ryu, Jongeun | rje312@etnews.com