2nd Gen Kia Stinger Could Get the Axe

[moinmoin]

It is not the first time we heard rumours about this, but the situation is getting worse after the coronavirus outbreak crisis that will force automakers to focus on what is already succesful and make money. The rumormill said Kia won’t update the powertrain on the Stinger facelift due to that, and now a new report of the South Korean sales further condemns its future, as well as G70 competition.

Full story:
https://thekoreancarblog.com/2020/04/20/2nd-gen-kia-stinger-could-get-the-axe/

 

[Weareblondi]

figures, but we on this forum have always pointed out that kia didn't market the stinger correct to begin with. with ford and gm axing the majority of their sedans, granted it was before the pandemic, to focus on trucks, suvs and halo cars. and kis/Hyundai and now genesis rolling out their own big suvs, it was only time before kia/Hyundai came to the conclusion that this might be the time for paring down their offerings. hopefully it wont happen, but if it does, hopefully (again) kia will re-think its position and bring back the stinger like gm did with the camaro. or, I guess we as stinger owners can write to kia to tell them not to. but, in the end, it will just hurt us as the consumers who will have a dwindling choice of cars that we can purchase.

 

[falanger]

Gotta love these constant blog posts spouting off factpinions with zero confirmation from a corporate source. #slowclap.

 

[Blamo]

For what it is.....at least it is better than constantly reading about the Coronavirus

 

[MerlintheMad]

I do not consider a shorter wheelbase an "advantage". That longer wheelbase in the Stinger is one of its salient advantages; it's part of the practicality that goes along with the hatch.

I repeat what others have observed: if the K900 has sold like bad crap for years and Kia hasn't terminated it, I think that the Stinger (which sells a lot better) has a good future, for a while yet.

(All this talk of the Pandemic being such a game changer makes no sense: everyone is in exactly the same boat; and people who would buy sedans will still want a car like the Stinger now and later, if they did before. The economy, world, US and Korean, is not going to turn belly up. Things get slower during recessions, and slower yet during depressions, but they don't stop altogether; especially not in today's stronger markets.)

 

[Mike_TX]

Genesis just debuted the new G80 in Korea, and the G70 is supposed to follow soon, so at least they (Genesis/Hyundai) haven't totally given up on sedans. And you could reasonably conclude that GM and Ford pulling out of the sedan market just leaves more for Hyundai/Kia to feed on.

Yes, it will be interesting to see what Kia does with the Stinger ... we owners will take a hit if they kill it off, and that's not a good thing.

 

[YEH]

The K9/K900 sells about 3-4x as well as the Stinger in Korea and the G80 and G90 are big sellers (and profit drivers) in Korea.

Also helps that it shares its platform w/ the G90.

W/ the new G80, expect it to outsell the smaller G70 (which has never come close to the sales volume of the Genesis sedan/G80 at its height).

If Genesis gets rid of a sedan, it would be the G70.

If Kia does end up discontinuing the Stinger, wouldn't be surprised if they replaced it w/ a sport/coupe CUV, w/ both hybrid and BEV variants.

I do not consider a shorter wheelbase an "advantage". That longer wheelbase in the Stinger is one of its salient advantages; it's part of the practicality that goes along with the hatch.

Correct - the major reason why the G70 hasn't been able to better the Stinger in sales here in the US is due to its cramped rear space.

 

[Revvdmedia]

Correct - the major reason why the G70 hasn't been able to better the Stinger in sales here in the US is due to its cramped rear space.

I've found interior space to be a funny thing these days. I've been in and out of a decent number of vehicles and it varies quite substantially due to design. When I had a Mustang, my friend had a refreshed 6th gen Camaro (2018). The cars had nearly identical exterior dimensions, yet both the front and back seat areas of the Camaro were substantially more cramped in all regards compared to my Mustang, it was significantly different.

Now I find, at least to my recollection, that the back seat does not feel much smaller in my M240i than my Stinger. My M240i is 14 inches shorter than my Stinger was (although the BMW has a slightly more stretch wheelbase proportionally). The Stinger has decent leg room, but that toe room thing was just incredibly odd to me. Then comparably, my wife's Santa Fe has a very similar footprint on the exterior to the Stinger, yet I have never felt short of legroom in that vehicle ever.

Basically what I am saying is does the Stinger need to have such little rear seat toe room? Could the G70's rear seat room be a bit bigger without stretching the car's length or wheelbase? It's all about the design, and maybe some of it is a compromise due to style.

Maybe none of that made much sense, but it's just crazy to me that you can take a 190" long car of various manufacturers, yet all of them can have substantially different interior room.

 

[YEH]

^ Foot/toe-room is even more of an issue in the G70 (need to redesign the seats/footwell).

But can fit a rear facing child seat in the Stinger, which is an issue in the G70.

As for the comparison w/ the Santa Fe, it's a FWD/transverse layout which is the most space efficient architecture.

W/ the Lexus LS moving to more of a 4-door coupe roofline, the FWD ES actually has more rear passenger space nowadays.

 

[OneIota]

The concierge/service aspect of the G70 was a major draw for consideration for me, but the limited ability to fit a car seat/small back seat was a major con in the pro/con listing. If Kia had added in some of the side benefits from the luxury marques, I think it would've been no contest. In my ideal world, I'd have a Genesis dealer close by (nearest one is 20 miles away while the nearest Kia is 9 miles) and the option to take my Stinger to a Genesis dealer and have the same service benefits.

 

[Mike_TX]

The concierge/service aspect of the G70 was a major draw for consideration for me, but the limited ability to fit a car seat/small back seat was a major con in the pro/con listing. If Kia had added in some of the side benefits from the luxury marques, I think it would've been no contest. In my ideal world, I'd have a Genesis dealer close by (nearest one is 20 miles away while the nearest Kia is 9 miles) and the option to take my Stinger to a Genesis dealer and have the same service benefits.

Any Hyundai dealer can service a Genesis, but of course you won't get the concierge service.