If you're ready for a REAR-drive Kia sports sedan, read my latest entry at MSN Autos Canada’s Passing Lane blog. Full post after the jump.
By John LeBlanc
If you've been keeping an eye on Korea's Kia, you knew this was coming: a large, rear-drive sports sedan, aimed directly at the likes of not only premium Asian brands like Acura, Infiniti, and Lexus, but also the Teutonic trio of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. It was just a matter of when. And now this week, Kia's released some designer sketches and details of such a car.
Sitting above the front-drive mid-size Optima four-door, the codenamed KH sedan is expected to be spun off the next-gen Hyundai Genesis rear-drive platform. We won't have to wait long until we see the actual production car. The KH goes on sale in Korea in the next few months, followed by other markets afterwards. Kia isn't saying when the aggressive looking four-door will arrive in Canada. My best bet is later this year.
When it does arrive, expect the Korean automaker to use the "flagship" KH as a key indicator of what we can expect from the brand's products going forward. In a release, Soon-Nam Lee, Kia’s Director of the Overseas Marketing Group, said the KH will combine all the automaker's design, performance, high-tech features and infotainment capabilities.
“This all-new rear-wheel drive large sedan will definitely become the leading model of our line-up around the world, showcasing the best of the best of Kia."
Although the current Genesis just received an upgrade to its V8, now a 5.0-litre with 426 hp, I'm not sure such a mill will end up in the big Kia sedan. At last fall's Frankfurt auto show, the stunning Kia GT concept—which is being used as a halo car for Kia's next steps in design, and will definitely influence the KH's final look—sported a turbocharged 3.3-litre V6 with 389 hp. If the new KH is serious about taking on a BMW 5 Series or Audi A6, lightweight nimbleness will be more important than all-out horsepower.
If the new Kia KH (or whatever they end up calling it) sounds audacious from a company that seems to have only started selling cars last week, you shouldn't really be all that surprised. I'm not. I picked the current Optima as
my best drive for 2011, citing its top-line SX turbo as a practical alternative to base models of the BMW 3 Series or Audi A4.
If the new KH ends up half as good as the Optima—and based on the Korean automaker's rapid progression and aggressive improvements, there's little reason to think it won't—it may end up as a rationale choice to a 5 Series or A6.
I said "rationale". And that's where things may get sticky for the Kia flagship.
Just as Hyundai is reconsidering separating its Genesis cars into a new, more upscale brand, can the Kia badge hold water in a segment where well-heeled customers really do care what badge is stuck on the nose of their car? Or with the new KH, is Kia poised to get over the brand hump, and finally make a splash against the established luxury brands?
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