According to Korean Car Blog, after speaking to “local industry sources,” Kia plans to stop producing the Stinger by the second quarter of 2022.
The decision follows plans for the Sohari Plant, located in Gwangmyeong, South Korea–the factory that currently builds the Stinger&ndas…
Boo.
figured this would happen. Cool car, but the potent one is pretty pricey.
It's only been on the market for what, like 10 minutes?
IMHO they underestimated the badge snobbery of their target market.
It's sad. Lift backs are cool. Hopefully the G70 continues.
Their Dealer network wasn't prepared to move upmarket, and it showed.
When Kia launched the Stinger, I was legitimately interested in one after seeing it at the local auto show. The Kia rep asked for my email address to setup a test drive. Sure, why not?
I got emails from 4 different dealerships in the area, within 48 hours prodding me, and they continued to do so daily, sending me offers on every model of Hyundai except the one I was interested in.
I was expecting a BMW/Mercedes Esq email of "Hey, I'm you're rep and I'm at [Closest Hyundai Dealership], when would be a good time to drop by for a test drive? Here's some material in the mean time." That I had received before when doing the same thing...
Not the digital equivalent of one of those shouting dealership ads that makes you shout "JESUSberkeley" as you grab the remote to turn the volume down.
Snrub said:It's sad. Lift backs are cool. Hopefully the G70 continues.
It's huuuuuuuuge. A lot of people who want a large opening hatch in the rear, in a car, want something smaller. A lot of people who are okay with a large car will just buy an SUV/crossover/whatever they are called this season.
the price killed it i think
It seems to me in very much so in the last 6 months ish and increasingly many auto makers are chopping wood to make some chips to burn on their electric programs. Maybe perhaps I guess climate change could be an elaborate hoax but at least more than a few giant sectors of the economy (including 'big oil') are taking climate change or more likely the changes in the regulatory environment being driven by climate change seriously. That plus the disintegrating relationship between China and the industrialized nations is going to bring about sea changes in the supply chains for transportation and many other industries- so marginal products and other than core competencies are getting tossed wholesale. Change is afoot.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Snrub said:It's sad. Lift backs are cool. Hopefully the G70 continues.
It's huuuuuuuuge. A lot of people who want a large opening hatch in the rear, in a car, want something smaller. A lot of people who are okay with a large car will just buy an SUV/crossover/whatever they are called this season.
To me, that's a lot of the appeal of a car like this (or a Panamera). Big, can fit plenty of stuff for a long trip, but not an SUV, competent handling, enough power, etc. Of course, this is the opinion of someone DD-ing an old 7 series...
In reply to Shaun :
I think that's probably a big part of it. Now that there are EVs coming to the market that are legitimately competitive with ICE vehicles, and some like the Model 3 are selling well, suddenly carmakers are scrambling to make sure their portfolio reflects what they think consumers will be asking for in the next 5 years. Low-lying fruit is being pruned, and so it makes sense low-volume "enthusiast" cars are going to be cut.
I was skeptical of the Stinger at first, but they are really nice cars that perform well. I was hoping for a 2nd gen car with some sleeker styling, but alas....
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Snrub said:It's sad. Lift backs are cool. Hopefully the G70 continues.
It's huuuuuuuuge. A lot of people who want a large opening hatch in the rear, in a car, want something smaller. A lot of people who are okay with a large car will just buy an SUV/crossover/whatever they are called this season.
It is big. Shockingly though, its only 6" longer than the Elantra.
The G70 dropping that powertrain is the sadder news in this thread. Turbo RWD sedan with a manual transmission and a limited slip.... I think it was the last one of these available?
ProDarwin said:The G70 dropping that powertrain is the sadder news in this thread. Turbo RWD sedan with a manual transmission and a limited slip.... I think it was the last one of these available?
Definitely one of the last. The current gen M3 sedan is still available as turbo / RWD / manual / LSD. I'm not sure what else is, if anything.
rslifkin said:ProDarwin said:The G70 dropping that powertrain is the sadder news in this thread. Turbo RWD sedan with a manual transmission and a limited slip.... I think it was the last one of these available?
Definitely one of the last. The current gen M3 sedan is still available as turbo / RWD / manual / LSD. I'm not sure what else is, if anything.
Yeah I forgot about that. I knew BMW had dropped manual from all of the more vanilla sedans.
And honestly, turbo isn't really a factor here. Nobody is really making RWD, Manual, LSD sedans of any form.
I like the Stinger, it's a handsome car with great driving dynamics. But I honestly can't believe it ever made it into production. The business case for a car like this just doesn't exist--the Stinger got nods from the enthusiast press but it was never going to make a profit for Kia. I'm disappointed to see it get the axe, but not at all surprised.
I agree with Shaun -- priority one for carmarkers right now is to cut costs and losses in order to free up the funds they need to convert to electrification. The Stinger is only one of a whole host of interesting cars we're going to see tossed on the chopping block.
Shaun said:It seems to me in very much so in the last 6 months ish and increasingly many auto makers are chopping wood to make some chips to burn on their electric programs. Maybe perhaps I guess climate change could be an elaborate hoax but at least more than a few giant sectors of the economy (including 'big oil') are taking climate change or more likely the changes in the regulatory environment being driven by climate change seriously. That plus the disintegrating relationship between China and the industrialized nations is going to bring about sea changes in the supply chains for transportation and many other industries- so marginal products and other than core competencies are getting tossed wholesale. Change is afoot.
Climate change is a controversial topic in the U.S., less so in many other places. But even when you take that part of the discussion away, the fact is that EV's are a superior solution for many people in many places. If you look at most of the rest of the world, at least where there's wealth and population density, it's a full-on rush to electric vehicles. In addition to being more convenient and less costly to operate, it helps fix a major public health crisis in places like Beijing and Mexico City where air quality has been so poor for so long. Car sharing is also a game changer in highly populated cities where parking is so scarce, and EV's are perfect for car sharing services.
I was in Berlin for a week right before the pandemic and it really changed my perspective on this. Here is a modern, wealthy, Western city not unlike Chicago or L.A. I would guess 50% of the cars were EV, and probably 1/3 of the cars were ride shares. Most parking areas in the city were set up to accomodate this. Any time we needed to get somewhere there was a fully charged EV car within a block of our location, just waiting for us to jump in and take off.
This is the part that I fear we're missing in the U.S.- we've now spent a generation bickering about climate change while other countries have made huge investments in technical innovation and infrastructure. If you look from the perspective of a Korean car company, the U.S. market is valuable but the U.S. gasoline enthusiast market is a tiny and shrinking part of the available global market.
In reply to malibuguy :
Last time I saw one in the showroom, it had a 10k markup on it. Perhaps this is yet another example of dealerships screwing the enthusiast market, giving the illusion there's no demand for this vehicle type.
Even without the shift to EV's, it's simply a shrinking market for large sports sedans. It was always going to be an uphill battle to sell a car like this with a Kia badge. Those in the market for a RWD manual trans sports sedan tend to start their shopping at BMW. They may cross shop to Audi or Mercedes, but the chances of them looking 'down market' to Kia was always going to be a long shot. While the average GRM'r may be relatively badge agnostic, those with the money for these types of cars aren't. Even outside of the badge snobbery for the price, look what happened to the Chubby SS and Pointy-ack G8. They were also large, 'sporty' RWD sedans and lasted about 5 mins in the market place. Good on Kia for trying it, but unfortunately no surprise on the obituary.
I mean I would just rather buy a well taken care of IS-F. The looks are similar, but I'm going to choose an NA V8 over a turbo 6 every time.
It was/is a great car, but it's still a midsize sedan. It would have been a lot more exciting if it was a bit closer to the concept:
It seemed more like a Frisbee competitor as a concept and showed up as a bargain M3. If it were the former I'd probably would have been down at the dealership for a test drive.
In reply to mblommel :
I was just going to mention that one. I saw the Singer GT4 at the New York Auto Show and, yes, it looked great IRL. Too made it never made it into production.
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