Kia Stinger interior eases fears

Kia feared pushing the boundaries of its brand too far if it married the striking liftback exterior of its new Stinger with an avante-garde tech-laden interior.

Instead of computer graphics, the dashboard of the five-door Kia Stinger is notable for its traditional analogue dials and plenty of buttons.

While there is a touch screen at the top of the centre stack there are no tunable panels such as the Benz Widescreen Cockpit. Nor is BMW-style gesture control part of the package.

"The thing was we were conscious what a big step this car was for Kia," Gregory Guillaume, Kia Motors Europe’s Chief Designer, told motoring.com.au.

"It is not a new type of car, but for us we were thinking for the customers, for the people out there, it’s already going to be a big step to swallow.

"We felt somehow with the interior we needed to put them at ease, not to shock them with some fancy super high-tech thing. And that is why we decided to go with an analogue approach with the interior."

Guillaume was speaking during a tour of Kia’s European design centre in Frankfurt and shortly after motoring.com.au’s first drive of the flagship Kia Stinger GT at the Nurburgring.

The Kia Stinger range goes on-sale in Australia in September 2017 and has already generated much more interest than any other model Korean company has ever launched here.

The GT is powered by a 3.3-litre twin turbo V6 engine that generates 272kW/510Nm and drives its rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

While Kia nominates the 4 Series BMW as the main global rival for the Stinger, in Australia, where the GT will be priced under $55,000 plus on-road costs, it is being seen as a logical replacement for the soon-to-be-defunct Holden Commodore SS.

"We felt we needed to create in the first vehicle we are doing in this segment and this type of vehicle, an environment that a consumer is going to feel instantly at ease with," Guillaume added.

"On top of accepting it’s a Kia and it’s got 370 horsepower and it’s going to go 270km/h. On top of it a spaceship inside? We felt analogue is the way to go and that’s fine."

Guillaume also admitted Kia’s designers weren’t all that convinced by the new wave hi-tech interiors anyway, despite the attention they have been receiving.

"We are a company that still uses a lot of buttons. We get a lot of critique sometimes from you guys [media], but we are very careful in implementing fancy stuff that people like to talk about or write about to communicate about it, when actually they are not that beneficial for the user.

"Why put your hands out to make the air-conditioning or the volume go up when you can just do that [turns an imaginary dial]?

"I am not sure it is the best way. But everyone talks about it; it’s great; marketing is happy. But I am not sure it is the best way for users."

However, Guillaume conceded Kia might be fighting a rearguard action when it comes to analogue instrumentation.

"Maybe for the next generation Stinger when it [high-tech instrumentation] is an established thing, then maybe it will be the right time to go a bit further with things like that."

Guillaume’s reference to a "next generation Stinger" was one of his very few acknowledgements Kia is even thinking beyond the launch phase of this car.

However, he did play down the chances of a coupe Stinger being developed: "Two-doors have one very big problem; very small volumes. We are still a brand that wants to make money with our cars.

"We don’t like to do some cars knowing that we won’t be selling many."

But he was evasive when asked about a wagon: "I have heard that question a lot."

On a higher-performance version: "You can always do a bit more."

Then when asked about taking the Stinger to the "next level" he said: "I have a rough idea, but I can’t really share it with you."