Kia Stinger stirs up Aussie demand

Around 100 Australians have already paid deposits for the Kia Stinger ahead of its hotly anticipated arrival in early September.

This sort of public excitement is an entirely new experience for Kia in Australia, which has never previously had a model like this in its armoury.

“This is the most interest we have ever had pre-launch in a Kia and certainly the most excitement we have seen created around a new model,” said Kia Motors Australia communications chief, Kevin Hepworth.

“No-one gets this excited about a new SUV, no matter how good it is and no-one gets too excited about a new family small car no matter how good it is. But this is a car generating genuine excitement levels,” he said.

The Stinger, which goes on-sale around September 1, is set to take over the affordable rear-wheel drive sports sedan space being vacated by the death of the locally-developed Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore.

It will be offered with the choice of two engines; a 182kW/353Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder and a 272kW/510Nm twin turbo V6.

Both engines are mated with an eight-speed automatic transmission and come in three model levels. Pricing for the base model 2.0-litre 200S is expected to start in the low $40,000 bracket (plus on-road costs), while the hero grade is the V6 GT, which is expected to retail in the mid-$50,000s.

Actual price-tags are still to be finalised with Kia head office in Korea.

Hepworth revealed all bar one of the deposits placed so far were for V6 Stingers.

“Interest is massive, unbelievable,” he said.

“We have 100 paid-up sales, pre-orders… That’s without advertising it via traditional methods at the moment, although we are definitely pushing it on Facebook and social media.”

Hepworth was speaking at the Nurburgring in Germany where motoring.com.au sampled the Stinger GT for the first time.

Kia has conducted significant testing and development of the Stinger at the legendary track, wracking up a minimum of 480 laps and 10,000km in each of a series of prototypes.

Hepworth admitted that initial demand indicated a waiting list will develop for the Stinger.

“Supply will be very limited to start with. Initially, we were unprepared for the level of interest in the car,” he said.

“We have no doubts it is going to outsell what we believed we could initially get. So there will be a struggle early on and it will be tight, but hopefully not too tight.”

While Kia Australia has yet to publicly confirm equipment lists or pricing for the new Stinger family, detailed dealer bulletins have been leaked.

The three four-cylinder Stingers will be badged as the 200S, 200Si and GT-Line. The V6s are the 330S, 330Si and the flagship GT.

All V6s get Brembo brakes, a limited slip differential, variable gear-ratio steering, a push button start, an electric park brake, sat-nav with SUNA traffic updates. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard.

You’ll have to upgrade to the 330Si for driver assistance such as autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist, smart cruise control and rain sensing wipers.

This model also steps up the in-cabin tech from 7.0-inch to 8.0-inch colour display, from 18 to 19-inch alloy wheels and from cloth to leather interior appointments.

The GT gets all the fruit, including dual-mode suspension, LED headlights, 15-speaker Harmon/Kardon audio, a head-up display, a sunroof and powered steering column adjuster.

Equipment levels are likely to correspond quite closely for the 2.0-litre models with their V6 equivalents, but the suggestion is some of the performance features such as the LSD and active dampers will go missing.