Kia Motors launches the new Sportage SUV

Models pose next to Kia Motors new Sportage compact SUV, during a launch event at the W Hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Kia Motors

By Park Jin-hai

Kia Motors launched the new Sportage compact SUV, Tuesday.

The nation’s second-largest automaker is pinning high hopes on the urban compact SUV, and the recently rolled out K5 sedan, to lead sales at home and abroad.

The fully changed fourth-generation compact SUV has been ambitiously developed under the project QL, with an investment of 390 billion won.

The slogan “The SUV Sportage” is the carmaker’s effort to develop the ultimate SUV that will meet the needs of people with the best design and performance.

“The new Sportage is an innovative model that will help Kia leap into becoming the top automaker in the global SUV market. With the Sportage, we will let the world know that our cars can outpace German and Japanese cars once more,” said Park Han-woo, Kia Motors president, during a launch event at the W Hotel in Seoul, Tuesday.

The Sportage has been one of Kia’s top-selling vehicles, selling more than 3.7 million since its 1993 launch.

The new Sportage is larger and more spacious than the previous Sportage R, rivaling the Volkswagen Tiguan and Honda CR-V, said the company.

There are two engines available ― the R 2-liter diesel and the smaller UII 1.7-liter diesel, which will be launched next month.

The 2-liter diesel powered model manages 14.4 kilometers per liter, up 4.3 percent from the previous model. Its claimed fuel efficiency is better than the Tiguan 2.0 TDI's 13.1 kilometers and the CR-V's 11.6 kilometers. The smaller 1.7-liter diesel mounts a seven-speed dual clutch transmission, giving more dynamic driving.

The company says it aims to sell 30,000 Sportage vehicles this year. Next year, it aims to sell more than 60,000 vehicles, up 25 percent from last year’s sales of 47,729 units.

The price for the new Sportage starts at 23.46 million won and goes up to 28.42 million won.

The vehicle’s price has seen a slight increase of between 190,000 and 930,000 won depending on the different trim levels.

“Apart from the new engines meeting the EU 6 emission standards, safety features such as advanced airbags and Idle Stop & Go have been provided for all trim levels as basic. Yet, we tried to limit the price hike, giving the best deal to our customers,” said a company official.

Since it began accepting orders on Sept. 2, the 2-liter Sportage diesel model alone has 5,000 pre-orders, according to the company.