Lately, Kia has been on a roll, launching one car after another, and its assault on the market won’t won’t stop here.
It’s no secret it cooking a rear-wheel-drive sports sedan that will attempt to pull buyers away from the German products as Kia Motors America COO, Michael Sprague, told Car and Driver in an interview.
“Last week somebody in Korea said that, yes, there’s a rear-wheel-drive vehicle coming next year… someone close to the situation”;
Not only that, but the Telluride concept could also make it to production as a three-row SUV. As a matter of fact, Sprague will very much like to have a big sport utility vehicle taking over the vacant space left by the Mohave/Borrego in the US: “I think it compliments where the brand is at today. The Borrego, by all accounts, was a great vehicle from a functionality standpoint and what it delivered from packaging and design.”
The latter wasn’t Kia’s best moment stateside, as it was discontinued and replaced by the Sorento due to unsuccessful sales. Nevertheless, Sprague still thinks a full-size SUV is a good idea, especially as the market has changed significantly over the past years.
“The market has changed; gas prices are a buck/buck-fifty, people are looking for more space, for that ride height that they missed when they shifted back to sedans, and our customers that we’ve been attracting for the last few years are asking for it. They took a chance on the brand . . . customers are now saying ‘I love the experience I’ve had with the brand; I love my car; I bought a Sportage and I needed more space; I bought a Sorento, I needed something bigger; I’m at the point now where I need something even bigger.”
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