Kia Stays Course With Optima Styling

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, CO – Some observers might see the new ’16 Kia Optima as a dead-ringer for the outgoing third-generation model.

And that’s no mistake, Kia Motors America officials here say.

“We didn’t want to screw up what was working,” Orth Hedrick, vice president-product planning for KMA, says here last week during an Optima media preview. “One of the key (selling) points on this vehicle has been the design. Going forward, it’s critical the vehicle continues with the same look that we had on (the) previous model.”

The third-gen sedan, part of Kia’s design-led lineup transformation of 2009, debuted in fall 2010 in the U.S. and quickly helped turn around Kia’s fortunes not only in the competitive midsize-car segment but for the brand as a whole.

The sleeker, more aggressively styled car helped Kia go from near the bottom of the segment by volume in 2010, when it sold just 27,382 Optimas in the U.S., to mid-pack last year, selling 159,020 copies, WardsAuto data shows.

The Optima, as well as Kia’s Soul subcompact box and Sorento CUV, propelled Kia’s total U.S. sales to record highs in two of the past three years, with 580,234 deliveries in 2014 the Korean marque’s best tally yet in the U.S.

“It was really a major turning point for the brand,” Michael Sprague, chief operating officer-KMA, says of the car.

Hedrick says Kia stood mostly pat on the Optima’s appearance after seeing competing models change dramatically. To alter a car’s personality, he says, “really impacts the dialogue you have in the market.”

Kia sister-brand Hyundai is the most notable example of this, losing sales – and momentum according to some analysts – after it toned down the look of its Sonata D-car. The Sonata and Optima share a platform.

Hyundai and Kia chief designer Peter Schreyer oversaw the Optima redesign. Hedrick notes Schreyer and his team, working in Frankfurt in conjunction with Kia designers in Namyang, South Korea, focused on keeping the car’s sweeping surfaces and contemporary shapes, things that make the Optima recognizable from across a parking lot.

That’s not to say the ’16 Optima, arriving at U.S. dealers later this month and in early November, is an exact replica of the ’11-’15 model.

Minor Design Changes Belie New Guts

While many details remain, such as a chrome spear over the greenhouse, the Optima’s tiger-nose grille has been updated with satin-metal and black-gloss finishes, while the LED taillights have a different pattern.

The sedan’s similar exterior belies new underpinnings and an increase in size.

The chassis is stiffer and about 44 lbs. (20 kg) lighter, and the body is made up of more than 50% advanced high-strength steel, a 150% increase from the third-gen model.

Structural adhesive usage grows from 20 ft. (6 m) in the outgoing model to 120 ft. (37 m) in the new Optima.

Ride and handling are improved with 4-point sub-frames for both front and rear suspensions and new geometry overall allowing for upright shock absorbers and better wheel placement in cornering.

Upmarket SX and SX-L grades get a new rack-mounted, motor-driven power steering system, and both column-mounted and rack-mounted systems receive a new 32-bit processor for faster response to inputs.

Width is the dimension increasing the most, with the ’16 Optima almost 1-in. (2.5-cm) wider than the model it replaces.

The car’s 185-hp 2.4L naturally aspirated and 245-hp 2.0L turbocharged gasoline 4-cyls. carry over but are reworked, with more low-end torque, improved refinement and better fuel economy.

“We found that most U.S. customers drive at those lower speeds (and don’t need a) roller-coaster-ride burst of speed at high rpm,” Hedrick says of horsepower ratings that have declined for both mills, from 7 hp with the 2.4L to 29 hp with the 2.0T.

The 2.0T has 66% new parts, including a smaller, higher-speed turbo with a dual-scroll design.

Hyundai’s 178-hp 1.6L turbo mated to the automaker’s 7-speed DCT is new for the Optima LX grade. The combination already is available on the Sonata Eco model.

Fuel economy ranges from 25 mpg (9.4 L/100 km) combined in 2.0T models to 32 mpg (7.4 L/100 km) combined in the LX with the 1.6T, up from 24 mpg (9.8 L/100 km) in ’15 2.4L models and 27 mpg (8.7 L/100 km) in ’15 2.0T grades.

Interior a Focal Point

Calling it one of the most significant upgrades Kia’s made to an interior in recent years, Hedrick says the sedan has better materials than before, including a 2-stage slush-molded instrument panel and hand-stitched IP, wheel and upper trim, the latter requiring the purchase of new technology at the car’s West Point, GA, manufacturing plant.

The SX-L grade gets premium Nappa leather and a diamond-quilted pattern on seats.

Front seats with four layers of foam and increased thigh support also are new.

The car’s IP is redesigned, with the touchscreen now tilted back and part of a horizontal plane instead of sitting atop the driver-slanted center stack in the ’15 model.

Apple CarPlay or Android Auto operating systems also are available in the ’16 Optima, as is a 10-speaker Harman/Kardon audio system and a variety of advanced safety technology, including Kia’s first use of a surround-view monitor.

While the outgoing Optima also had a nice interior (it was a 2011 Ward’s 10 Best Interiors winner), Hedrick says the brand wanted to over-deliver on materials, content and design to change people’s perception of a Kia. With Americans keeping their cars on average for 10 years, he notes, “There’s still quite a few people that haven’t experienced or aren’t aware” of the resurgent brand.

In keeping with the Blake Griffin-tone of its recent advertising, Kia again will use the NBA player to promote a new vehicle.

A couple rough-cut commercials shown to media here reveal Griffin chatting with ’16 Optima drivers who have unknowingly gotten “In The Zone,” something athlete Griffin can do even while making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The ’16 Optima LX begins at $21,840, the same starting price, sans $825 destination and handling, as the current model.

Pricing ranges from $23,990 for the LX 1.6T to $35,790 for the SX-L.

Sprague says Kia expects annual sales will remain in the 150,000-unit range, and maybe grow beyond that.

“We hope to go higher,” he says. “Just looking at the vehicle and the initial feedback…we think we have another hit on our hands. We would hope we would be able to capitalize on that.”

The LX, EX, SX and SX-L grades of the Optima will be assembled at Kia’s West Point, GA, plant, which began producing the ’16 model Sept. 28. The forthcoming next-gen Optima hybrid and new Optima plug-in hybrid will be built in Korea.

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