Kia Stinger may not get a second generation

[RockyJodr124]

Is this a bogus article or what?
https://www.carlist.my/news/kia-stinger-may-not-go-second-generation/53122/

Unfortunately, the Stinger isn't doing so well. Apart from Australia where it's been surprisingly well received, it hasn't quite seen the levels of success Kia hoped for within North America. Europe has also pushed heavily for the Stinger, although being a market that has its own strong offerings in the very segment the Stinger is supposed to fight in, it can be a little difficult to remain competitive. It was something that Kia took a big chance on, and unfortunately it isn't going as well as planned, and according to Australia's Which Car, plans for the next generation Stinger is in doubt.

It's this simple fact that is causing Kia to reconsider producing a successor to the current Stinger. The car was popular among critics and garnered a lot of interest from the public, but poor sales means it does not present an appealing enough business case to the Korean brand. On the one hand, they are continuing their marketing push in Europe, but on the other they also feel that the project is a dead end and won't be profitable, despite appealing to a select group of enthusiast drivers.

 

[torbach]

Personally I doubt that Kia?s strategy for the Stinger was ever to be a high volume seller. It?s meant to be a halo car that helps them sell more Optimas and other cars. I suspect they would at least wait to see if it does that before making any decisions. But also, they know from Hyundai, that Hyundai wasn?t really successful with the Hyundai Genesis until they changed the brand name entirely to Genesis. So I wonder if that wouldn?t hold true here too, or if they don?t just roll the Stinger into the Genesis brand.


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[stinger1919]

Not so sure about that......the dealership I got mine from can't even keep GTs on the lot.

Also, you can keep an eye on sales here:

https://www.kiamedia.com/us/en/sales

 

[MurlinatoR]

That article is complete hog wash.

They have ZERO credible sources from which they gathered their information.

I can personally tell you that I know that they hoped for more but doesn't everyone??? LOL We hope for more from a marriage, our employers, our kids, and even McDonalds!

The truth is that no one would even consider pulling the plug on a vehicle 10 months into it's existence.

Don't waste any more of your life reading this article. LOL

 

[ZyroXZ2]

The article does link to another article in which someone references speaking to Gregory Guilliame:

"Speaking to Australian media at the Paris motor show, Kia?s head of design Gregory Guilliame acknowledged the Stinger?s achievements as a brand ambassador, but cautiously admitted a second generation of the stylish four-door coupe will only happen if it is a widespread sales success."

I sort of believe it, though, as my current and ongoing experience with a Kia dealership tells me the brand is not ready for the car.

 

[TimS]

When does the typical car have a 'second generation'? Isn't that around the 4 year mark, give or take?

Stinger's been out for less than a year, I think?

A little premature to start digging a grave already, in my opinion.

-Tim

 

[MurlinatoR]

The article does link to another article in which someone references speaking to Gregory Guilliame:

"Speaking to Australian media at the Paris motor show, Kia's head of design Gregory Guilliame acknowledged the Stinger's achievements as a brand ambassador, but cautiously admitted a second generation of the stylish four-door coupe will only happen if it is a widespread sales success."

I sort of believe it, though, as my current and ongoing experience with a Kia dealership tells me the brand is not ready for the car.

Oh, you mean they loosely commented on another article that loosely commented on someone from Kia's loose comments... LOL

Here's your perspective; the Sedona sells around the same number of units as the Stinger and it's still holding in the lineup. The Cadenza only sells 30% of the Stinger and isn't going anywhere. Even the K900, at a measly 2% (only 260 YTD), is just getting another model redesign.

It makes no sense that they would scrap the Stinger with all of the attention that it's receiving AND with the way this car is reshaping the brand image. Trust me, the Stinger is here to stay.


Now, regarding your poor experience with your local Kia dealership, I'm sorry. It sounds to me like a dealership with low standards is confusing perception of Kia corporate. Many dealerships have poor customer service standards. This spreads across all brands. What you'll see below is that MY Kia customers rank us #1 in our district and 26th in the nation out of more than 750 Kia dealers.

The bottom line is that a business chooses to be respectful when they realize that their REAL product are their guests.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

Oh, you mean they loosely commented on another article that loosely commented on someone from Kia's loose comments... LOL

Here's your perspective; the Sedona sells around the same number of units as the Stinger and it's still holding in the lineup. The Cadenza only sells 30% of the Stinger and isn't going anywhere. Even the K900, at a measly 2% (only 260 YTD), is just getting another model redesign.

It makes no sense that they would scrap the Stinger with all of the attention that it's receiving AND with the way this car is reshaping the brand image. Trust me, the Stinger is here to stay.


Now, regarding your poor experience with your local Kia dealership, I'm sorry. It sounds to me like a dealership with low standards is confusing perception of Kia corporate. Many dealerships have poor customer service standards. This spreads across all brands. What you'll see below is that MY Kia customers rank us #1 in our district and 26th in the nation out of more than 750 Kia dealers.

The bottom line is that a business chooses to be respectful when they realize that their REAL product are their guests.

View attachment 1614

No, I ended up speaking with Kia corporate's Customer Assistance Center. They just have no idea how exactly to go about the more demanding nature of higher end car owners. Granted, the Stinger is at the bottom end of the cost spectrum, but Kia is just too used to economy car expectations and customers. While a good dealership is a good dealership and a bad one is a bad one across any brand, I'm finding that other brands' corporate structure has a better understanding of their "premium" vehicle lineups (if they have them) and how to treat those customers. Kia is new to this, and hasn't quite adapted, yet.

Having said that, you're overly defensive: I quoted the particular statement made by not "someone from Kia", but their Head of Design. His statement doesn't say anything about there not being a second generation, it's saying that it has to do really well to ensure there is one. The Sedona is in a "common" market niche (or more accurately, I reuse the word "economy"). It costs less to make, likely has a decent profit margin per unit, and has customers that have relatively low expectations. The Stinger is, instead, competing with fiercely branded vehicles in a much higher end niche. It costs more to make, likely has a smaller profit margin per unit in an effort to create "value" in a niche that normally does not have it at all, and this niche has customers that expect to be treated promptly and professionally where they are always right even if they are wrong. Thus, I understand and see where he's coming from: for the Stinger to have an assured future, it really DOES need to do well because it's a much more "costly" vehicle to deal with for Kia.

 

[torbach]

I?m not strongly on either side of this discussion, but if you watch Alex on Auto?s review of the 2nd gen Kia K900 to come to the US despite insanely bad sales, perhaps it will give more context. https://youtu.be/JS4EVpCKgHU


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[jatleson]

I hope it continues. The local dealer by me in the North Chicago suburbs has at least 3 fully loaded GT2's available for a big discount (including a black with red interior...tempting, very tempting)

 

[TimS]

I hope it continues. The local dealer by me in the North Chicago suburbs has at least 3 fully loaded GT2's available for a big discount (including a black with red interior...tempting, very tempting)

Just curious - do you by chance mean Grossinger Kia, Lincolnwood?

 

[jatleson]

Further north. Libertyville

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[Jiggaman]

If any of this were true the K900 and the Cadenza would have gotten axed a long time ago. Look at their numbers vs the Stinger and they have been on the market for a while now. The article is bogus.

 

[MurlinatoR]

If any of this were true the K900 and the Cadenza would have gotten axed a long time ago. Look at their numbers vs the Stinger and they have been on the market for a while now. The article is bogus.

^^^This^^^

 

[stingLikeAee]

The local dealer by me in the North Chicago suburbs has at least 3 fully loaded GT2's available for a big discount

The big discount might result from incentive stacking. Proceed with caution.

 

[GRStinger]

Early in the year, I seem to recall reading ? I can?t remember where ? that Kia was targeting US sales of 15,000 Stingers for 2018. They were at 13,000 as of Sept end, averaging about 1450/mo, so they will reach that 15k. The Stinger has gotten a ton of love for Kia. It seems to be that ?halo car? they were hoping for. Plus, it would seem to me that the capital investment for tooling and manufacturing infrastructure for this totally new/different car for Kia would be significant. Doesn?t make sense that they would want to shorten the life of this car. It will continue to provide the halo and allow Kia to get their return on the investment.

All that said, even though the price-point is still awesome in relation to comparative cars, and the enthusiasts love it, I doubt that the Stinger will ever become ?popular?. SUV?s are eating up the sedan market, plus the typical sedan buyer looking at an Optima, Accord, or Camry won?t/can?t drop the extra $. Frankly, I?m fine with that. Maybe a future classic? I love most-everything about the car, and I love having a car that?s different.

 

[Chooka]

Living in Australia I can say the 3.3 GT is a big hit here, and wait times can be as much as 3 months. Sales of the lesser 2.0 models are virtually non-existent. Ultimately the car has to sell in decent numbers in the U.S to be considered successful.

 

[OilDripper]

Living in Australia I can say the 3.3 GT is a big hit here, and wait times can be as much as 3 months. Sales of the lesser 2.0 models are virtually non-existent. Ultimately the car has to sell in decent numbers in the U.S to be considered successful.

Are gas prices fairly affordable over there?

 

[Chooka]

Are gas prices fairly affordable over there?

No not really. But we have a severe lack of 4 door affordable performance saloons. The SS Commodore (Chevy SS) was a huge hit here. Since its demise we have had few options. I seriously looked at a Mustang, but there's no way I could get even my children in the back seat for any extended period of time.

 

[Boomerman44]

I am a Stinger owner and I am not taking Kia's side but!!!

^^^This^^^

I am a Stinger owner and I am not taking Kia's side but!!!

I own a small machine shop and I know a little bit about setup and tooling costs. With that said I personally don't see any car manufacturer Putting 7 plus years of planning , Hiring top notch design teams , Drivers and spending Millions upon millions of dollars to produce what I see as an AWESOME challenger to a heavy weight class of cars. The scale of such an undertaking tells me that Kia is a forward thinking company. The Stinger wasn't just a re-vamped Optima It was a completely new car altogether. Bottom line... I can't believe that Kia missed the mark on making the Stinger . I just can't figure out why they didn't make the Stinger under a premium new badge ie, Honda/Acura Toyota/Lexus Ford/Lincoln ect. I feel that Kia was doing just fine own it's own based on value for the hard earned dollar. I don't think that Kia is going to stop making the Stinger anytime soon. I actually expect to see them maybe create a whole line of really nice high end cars , suv's, trucks and crossovers all having something to challenge Mercedes , Lexus , Acura and all other Top tier manufacturers. Maybe under a new premium car badge . Personally again as I removed the Kia badges from my Stinger and replaced them with the E badges I had almost a feeling of shame ... That almost all of the buyers of the new Stinger have done the same. It seems a shame to take the thunder away from Kia for making such a truly amazing Hotrod ! Cudos to you guys Kia! JOB WELL DONE !!!