Kia Sportspace Heading To Production Within 18 Months
Eighteen months from now, the Kia Sportspace will make the leap from the design studio to European showrooms.
According to Top Gear, Kia Europe CEO Michael Cole says the estate is part of the automaker’s plans to “enter segments that [Kia’s] not in to support [its] growth. In Europe particularly the D-segment wagon is a volume segment, so it’s worth going for.”
The Sportspace is also leading the way toward a sportier, performance-oriented direction for Kia, which currently includes the green-lit twin-turbo V6 GT. Though the estate boasts Optima’s T-Hybrid diesel-electric powertrain — whose output of 170 horsepower is directed to the front when the estate’s temporary AWD is not in use — Cole says a high-performance version could come “much further down the line.”
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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I'll buy one the minute it's sold here. 15 - 24 months is about right.
It's stunning to me just how many comments on car blogs are about the greenhouse and the high belt lines. If you're snarkily commenting about high beltlines and small greenhouses, as if anything could be done about them (especially in wagons), then you're basically loudly proclaiming that you're not one to pay much attention to visual details and are basically (haha) blind. Short of a massive shift in engine design and placement or drastic advances in materials engineering, those beltlines are not coming down. The only way you increase the greenhouse and improve the sight lines in a modern sedan is by raising the roofline and raising the seating. Lo and behold, a CUV. Which is ironic, considering the same "car guys" who complain about the visibility in modern cars will turn right around and complain about the proliferation of CUVs, as if one didn't lead to the other and mainstream consumers weren't acting rationally.
Sweet looking design. Put a "panoramic" sunroof on and it's a winner in my book.
The problem with the belt-line is the angle it rises at. I have sat in so many cars with a high belt-line which makes life mierable for small kids in the back as well as giving a bad view out. The belt-line can be unrelated to the cowl. One of the earlier posts about the Volvo 940 makes this point. All it will take is some designer to find another way to say "modern" and the style will go away.