The new Stinger from Kia made its Korean debut at the Seoul Motor Show with a unique badge slapped to it, confirming the earlier reports on the matter.
Apparently, Kia felt that the Stinger will be more marketable in its home turf if they ditched their classic badge for something more special as their new model prepares to rival more established premium players than usually.
We’ve seen this sort of strategy in the past as well, with Hyundai giving its high-end models a different emblem treatment than the rest of the range, with models like the Equus or the pre-Genesis… Genesis coming first to mind.
You would think that a car company would have no such problems in its home market, but it seems that Korea is a pretty badge-snob market when it comes to premium brands. In fact, there’s a wide selection of after-market badges for Kias online for that exact purpose.
The Korean-spec Stinger then is getting a round unique badge instead of the traditional oval-shaped Kia logo. Inside we find a version of what looks like the Greek letter Sigma, which we guess stands for Stinger.
One of the display cars was also finished in a new yellow paintjob, featuring a front grille, air intakes and bonnet louvres made out of carbon. Korean-spec models will also be available in rear- and all-wheel drive.
Customers will have to choose between three engines – the 365hp twin-turbo 3.3-litre V6, the 247hp turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder and a 200hp 2.2-litre turbodiesel. Kia reckons that the range topping V6 version will do a 0-100km/h (0-62mph) in 4.9 seconds.
What do you think of the new badge?
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