We have read so many reports about the demise of the Stinger that we feel like life is already over for Kia’s halo grand tourer. Still, sales of the model in the Australian market are strong, with local executives remaining committed to it.
More specifically, when asked about a possible discontinuation of the Stinger, Damien Meredith, chief operating officer at Kia Australia, said: “We haven’t heard anything official from Korea on whether or not we’re going to a new model for Stinger or not, so we’re just happy at the moment that we’re getting fantastic supply for the car and it’s doing exceptionally well in the market”.
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As reported by CarExpert, Australian sales of the Kia Stinger rose by 53.3 percent this year, following an impressive 203.8 percent increase in April. The flagship Stinger GT accounts for over 90 percent of sales, benefiting from the fact it is the only remaining rear-wheel drive sports sedan from a mainstream automaker in the local market (the rival VW Arteon is front-wheel-drive).
While Kia Australia would certainly like a new generation of the Stinger, this sounds unlikely due to the nameplate’s slow sales in other markets. In the US, the model is selling around 13,000 units per year, in China it has already been discontinued, while in Europe it was always considered to be a niche product.
The first reports about Kia axing the Stinger surfaced in 2020 and continued throughout 2021. Last year, Karim Habib, Kia’s design boss, suggested that the EV6 could be seen as the spiritual successor of the Stinger, fueling the rumors. The most recent reports state that Stinger production will end in the second quarter of 2022, while others claim it will remain available until 2023. The latter scenario sounds plausible for a model that debuted in 2017 and received a facelift in 2020.
