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KIA will launch a rear-wheel drive, BMW 3 Series-fighting sports sedan in Australia next year, powered by a twin-turbo V6 engine and priced from $40,000.
Wheels has learned the new model, code named CK internally, could arrive locally as early as July 2017 and will boast styling taken from Kia’s well-received GT4 Stinger and four-door GT concept cars.
The model will also feature engineering input from former BMW bigwig Albert Biermann, who headed up the German company’s M Division before being poached to Korea.
Kia Australia is eager to run a two-tier range of the new four-door sports sedan, with pricing expected to start at around $40,000.
“Engines are yet to be decided, but our strategy shows those two entry points are where we need to be,” said Kia’s chief operating officer Damien Meredith. “We’ll get one in around the $40K mark and one around the $50K mark.”
“We’ll probably launch in the second half of next year, it makes sense for us to launch cars at the Australia Open,” Meredith said. “If it comes earlier then we’ll launch, but I think for a vehicle like that it’d be great to launch it at the 2018 Australian Open, it’d get a fair bit of traction there.”
“I’ve been fortunate enough to see it and I think an amalgam of the two is closer to the design cues,” he said. “It’s very exciting.”
The new rear-driven model could become an affordable, smaller alternative to the soon-to-die Falcon and Commodore. Performance should be on par with the outgoing sedans, and its expected price tag is squarely within the same bracket.
