Kia’s Stonic Breaks Cover Ahead of Korean Sales Launch

Kia’s new Stonic B-segment CUV officially breaks cover and goes on sale in Korea within a few days, following release of official pictures and specifications this week from Europe.

The new model joins sister brand Hyundai’s just-launched Kona in an effort to take down the runaway segment-leading Ssangyong Tivoli in Korea.

The two new vehicles are the first for Hyundai and Kia in the B-class CUV sector, which the Tivoli has had to itself since its January 2015 debut. Last year, Ssangyong built more than 86,000 Tivolis at its Pyeongtaek, South Korea, plant.

Local sales totaled 56,935 units last year, a rise of 26.5% over 2015, while Tivoli exports jumped 54.7% to 28,886. The numbers are not so stellar for the first five months of 2017. The Tivoli sold 23,811 units domestically, up 7% over like-2016, while exports plunged 37% to 6,571.

Kia’s Stonic shares its platform and powertrains with the Kona. The Stonic was designed primarily in Germany, under supervision from the joint Hyundai-Kia design and development center in Namyang, Korea. The Kona came primarily from Hyundai’s U.S. design studio in California.

The Stonic has a bold front end with rugged, deeply inset low-mounted running lights separated from the main headlamps. While the Kona gets a rugged “armor” look by applying composite cladding to the lower surfaces, the Stonic front end has more natural curves and folds that powerfully embrace a traditional Kia tiger-nose grille.

Traditional might also define the remaining lines of the Stonic, which exude a boxy, more conservative character than those of the Kona.

Kia calls the Stonic the most customizable Kia ever. It offers five contrasting roof colors that permit 20 different two-tone color variations.

Available powertrains for European markets include a lightweight 1.0L T-GDI gasoline turbo, 1.25L and 1.4L MPI gasoline engines and a 1.6L diesel mill.

Electronic stability control and vehicle stability control are standard on all Stonics, as is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Also available are autonomous emergency braking, forward-collision alert, blindspot detection, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-departure warning and driver-attention warning.

There is no word of a U.S. launch, though the vehicle is expected to be sold in the market. The Stonic goes on sale in Korea in July and hits European markets following the Frankfurt auto show in September.