It's a new chapter in Kia's story. With the Kia Stinger, the South Korean brand intends to meddle in the war between German references.
It kicked off the 2017 Detroit Motor Show in style. As had been speculated, Kia took to the North American event its new rear-wheel-drive saloon, which instead of the Kia GT will be called Kia Stinger . Like the prototype presented in Detroit three years ago, the Kia Stinger assumes itself as a younger and truly sporty model, and now occupies the top of the range in the Korean brand's catalogue.
The car that no one believed Kia would be able to produce
A sort of beak-eyed Porsche Panamera – read, coming from South Korea.
On the outside, the Kia Stinger adopts an aggressive four-door coupé architecture, somewhat in line with Audi's Sportback models – the design was in charge of Peter Schreyer, former designer of the rings brand and current head of the design department from Kia.
Although it is a model with an openly sporty character, Kia guarantees that the living space quotas have not been harmed, this due to the generous dimensions of the Stinger: 4,831 mm long, 1,869 mm wide and a wheelbase of 2,905 mm, values that the place at the top of the segment.
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Inside, the highlight is the 7-inch touchscreen, which claims for itself most of the controls, seats and steering wheel covered in leather and attention to finishes.
The fastest model ever from Kia
In the powertrain chapter, the Kia Stinger will be available in Europe with a block Diesel 2.2 CRDI from the Hyundai Santa Fe, whose details will be known at the Geneva Motor Show, and two gasoline engines: 2.0 turbo with 258 hp and 352 Nm and 3.3 turbo V6 with 370 hp and 510 Nm . The latter will be available with an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive, allowing accelerations from 0 to 100 km/h in just 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 269 km/h.
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In addition to the new chassis, the Kia Stinger debuts a suspension with variable dynamic damping and five driving modes. All mechanics were developed in Europe by the brand's performance department, led by Albert Biermann, formerly responsible for BMW's M division. “The Kia Stinger unveiling is a special event, because nobody was expecting a car like this, not only for its looks but also for its handling. It's a completely different “animal”, he says.
The release of the Kia Stinger is scheduled for the last half of the year.
