Kia's Sporty Side Shows in a Concept for Detroit

By Bill McLauchlan

Hold onto your hats Kia fans! The up-and-coming Korean car company will take a sporting turn when it takes the wraps off a new concept car at next month’s 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Conceived at the automaker’s U.S. design studio in Irvine, CA, this stunning 2+2 sports car is intended to turn heads while delivering superb driving enjoyment on both road and track.

Kia’s rise over the last five years or so has been nothing short of remarkable, driven by progressive styling, great bang for the buck, laudable and modern build quality and, in the case of the nice little Forte Coupe, fun to drive. Kia has now been in the Canadian market for 15 years and its current model range offers practically something for everyone – from the entry-level, budget friendly Rio line to the rear-drive, near-luxury $37,795 Cadenza.

If they don’t work for you, there’s the quirky-looking Soul, just named Best New Family Car (under $30,000) for 2014 by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). It also might interest you to know that an all-electric Soul is currently under development for sale in Canada. I’ve already mentioned the visually appealing sporty Forte Coupe, but if practicality is driving your interest you can also choose from Forte sedan and 5-door models. All three carry base-model sticker prices from less than $16,000 to just under $20,000. Slotting in between the Forte line and the Cadenza is the Optima at around $22,000 and a Hybrid version at a tad under $30,000.

If SUVs are more to your liking, Kia offers Rondo, Sportage and Sorento choices – the latter also garnering recognition from the AJAC experts, voted as Best New SUV/CUV ($35,000 to $60,000) for 2014.

While the current top-line Cadenza is aimed squarely at similarly-sized and equipped Buick, Chevrolet and Toyota sedans, Kia has just raised its sights even higher. A new premium K900 rear-drive sedan (above) made its debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show last month, poised to challenge the full-size, rear-drive luxury sedan segment. It should make its way into Dealer showrooms by next Spring with a suggested list price in the $60,000 to $80,000 range.

So, with its product portfolio nicely filling out, the only gap seems to be in something truly sporty, thus this intriguing new concept for Detroit. The photo at the top of this page gives us some idea of what it will look like but Kia is keeping technical details close to its vest. Stay tuned for more glimpses in the weeks ahead.