Kia Stinger: ‘a modern Gran Turismo’ inspired by Maserati

[Express]

Kia Stinger pricing and positioning crucial for success, says local division





by David Zalstein
Journalist
4 days ago


The much-anticipated Kia Stinger is due to arrive in local showrooms later this year, but Kia Australia says the model’s success is far from guaranteed.

Speaking with Australian media ahead of the kick-off for this week’s 2017 Geneva motor show, Kia Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith, said care needs to be taken to ensure the sports-slanted ‘saloon liftback’ succeeds on the Australian market.

“I think we’ve got to be really, really careful how we position [Stinger],” Meredith said.

“One of our foundations is value for money. Now, we think we make great cars, and I think we do make great cars, but we’ve got to make sure that they’re priced accordingly that we get critical mass.

“I think how we position Stinger will give it the direction over the next five-to-ten years. Specifically, we think that, whilst unfortunately Commodore and Falcon are disappearing (as rear-wheel-drive locally-manufactured cars), we don’t think the market’s disappearing.

“Therefore, if we can fill that pool that’s left empty, we believe that Stinger can be relatively successful. Now, that depends on positioning, that depends on pricing, that depends on a lot of things, so again, we’ve got to be really careful how we position it and price it to fill that pool.”



2017 KIA Stinger - GT38 US Spec


Although Meredith is quick to acknowledge the notable slump in large car sales in recent times – last year alone, sales were down more than 10 per cent on 2015, and down 60 per cent compared with 2010 – the local head still sees opportunity in the segment.

“That’s fair enough. But if there’s a 40,000-unit market in Australia, and you get 10 per cent of that, that’s 4000 cars a year. And just using that as an example, if you get 10 per cent of that 40,000-unit segment, to me, that’s success.

“That’s the way you’ve got to look at it. You’ve got to make decisions for the medium- and long-haul, you just can’t say, ‘Well, that’s not working, don’t enter that market’.

“I think we’ve been relatively smart and relatively brave in some areas with what we’ve done to enter segments… I think Picanto is a good example of that, I think Stinger will also be a good example of that.

“Using that 40,000-unit market as an example, if we get 10 per cent of that, I think we’d all be happy with that. So, we’re confident that it can be a success, if we get the positioning correct and we get the pricing correct.”



2017 KIA Stinger - GT38 US Spec


While final pricing and specifications for Australia are still yet to be finalised and announced, two powerplants will be offered in the rear-wheel-drive Commodore- and Falcon-hunting Stinger, with both the 190kW/353Nm turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder and 272kW/510Nm twin-turbocharged 3.3-litre V6 to reach local shores.

That said, Meredith is more than aware of how fine the pricing balance can be, particularly in a market as competitive as Australia.

“[Hypothetically], if the 2.0-litre was $40,000 and the 3.3-litre was $60,000, I know which [one would be the volume seller]. However, if it was $45,000 [versus] $55,000, well… And if it was $43,000 [versus] $50,000, it changes the dynamic quite significantly. So, we don’t know at this point in time.”

Seeing a deeper chord for the Stinger to strike, Kia Motors Australia media and corporate communications general manager Kevin Hepworth added that “engines are probably not going to be the biggest questions”.



2017 KIA Stinger - GT38 US Spec


“It’s the rear-wheel drive that’s what’s going to offer what the market doesn’t have anymore,” Hepworth said.

“For 40 years Ford and Holden have been doing the preliminary work saying that, ‘If you want to drive a ‘real’ car, it’s got to be a rear-wheel-drive car’. Well, okay, we’ve got one. Do you?

“That’s where, we’re hoping, a lot of the interest will come from, from people who have grown up with those cars, want those cars, and don’t want to pay $80,000-$90,000 for a rear-wheel-drive European car. There’s an opening there somewhere. There’s a big hole.”

So how much interest has the Stinger already sparked? Kia Australia reckons pre-sold numbers are growing, while ‘warm/hot’ dealer enquiries are “in the 400s already”.

“So, we’re pretty happy with that,” said Meredith.


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http://www.caradvice.com.au/530037/k...ocal-division/

Kia Stinger: ‘a modern Gran Turismo’ inspired by Maserati





by David Zalstein
Journalist
1 days ago


Apart from being “probably the sportiest production car” Kia’s chief designer has ever penned, Gregory Guillaume says the Kia Stinger is also very much a modern interpretation of iconic Gran Turismo models from the 1970s.

Speaking to Australian media at the Geneva motor show this week, Guillaume said that while building a traditional, two-door sports car would be a fun project, he’s smitten with the four-door, rear-drive Kia Stinger.

“Sure, [a ‘proper’ sports car] would be great,” Guillaume said. “But if you had told me seven years ago, ‘Gregory, you’re going to be launching in Geneva a four-door coupe for Kia,’ I would’ve said, ‘You’re kidding’.


“I’m very, very happy we got the chance to work on something like [the Stinger]. It’s probably the sportiest production car I’ve done in my whole career – and I’ve worked a long time before that at Audi and Volkswagen, and God knows how many proposals of coupes I’ve done that just don’t make it.

“And the one that makes it, is at Kia. I mean, how cool is that?”



2017 KIA Stinger - GT38 US Spec


Calling out practicality and rear passenger space as key reasons the South Korean brand opted to make the Stinger a large car over a mid-sized BMW 3 Series rival, Guillaume said the original Kia GT concept – shown at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show – was born out of a single question.

“That concept car was just the result of a question that we were asked by the headquarters: If we were going to go into a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive car in that segment, in that size, what should Kia do?

“And the reference in that segment worldwide is 3 Series BMW – everybody wants to beat that. But we said from the start, we actually don’t believe that’s what Kia should be doing. We thought, with us, it should be more about style and a car that’s more dynamic looking, and we started to go for this modern interpretation of a Gran Turismo.

“I always had in mind iconic GTs of the early 1970s [with] elegance. Sure, power and speed, but this Italian Gran Turismo. I had in mind one car always: it was the original, the very first Maserati Ghibli. The car has raw power and it’s fast, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s elegance. It’s style.”



Maserati Ghibli


Guillaume says, growing up in France, legends like that first Ghibli were the ones he expected to see on the motorways, cruising from Paris to Saint-Tropez. “Work hard in Paris, go and have fun in the Cote d’Azur.”

“We were looking for the modern interpretation of that. So, yes, Gran Turismo is about the long journey – yes, spirited driving – but it’s the long journey. You need comfort, you need style. So that’s why we went for that car, which has a much longer wheelbase than a 3 Series – or any car in that segment actually – because you give the occupants space.

“And automatically, if you make those choices, you’re not going to be as competitive in handling as a four-door much more compact solution like a 3 Series, but that was the choice we made. And we thought that was the right thing for us to do.”

“But it is damn fast,” he adds, as though the Stinger’s design and packaging needed any further justification.

The Kia Stinger is due to arrive locally later this year, with prices tipped to range between $40k-$50k for the 190kW/353Nm turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder and 272kW/510Nm twin-turbocharged 3.3-litre V6 engine options.

That said, Kia Australia has made clear that it fully understands just how crucial final pricing and positioning will be for the potentially Commodore-killing model.


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http://www.caradvice.com.au/531240/k...d-by-maserati/

Photos from Drive.com.au


10 March 2017

















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http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/2...10-guv9kb.html


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