Seoul 2017: Kia Stinger Makes Asian Debut

The Kia Stinger makes its first official appearance in Asia at the 2017 Seoul Motor Show. The all-new model goes on display for the first time in its home market lining up alongside the 2011 GT Concept that served as the inspiration for Kia’s ambitious challenger of the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe and Audi A5 Sportback.

First shown at the 2017 Detroit Motor Show in January, the Stinger had initially debuted with two petrol-driven turbocharged powertrains – a 2.0-litre four-cylinder from the Theta II family with 250PS and 353Nm lining up alongside a 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 pushing out 370PS and 510Nm, the latter good enough to propel the Stinger GT to a 0-100km/h time of 4.9 seconds.

A 2.2-litre diesel engine was later introduced for the European market with rated outputs of 202PS and 441Nm. All three engines are slated for introduction in Korea. An in-house designed 8-speed automatic transmission is standard for all variants.

With its engine installed in a north-south orientation, the Stinger is configured primarily for rear-wheel drive though all-wheel drive is offered as an option. For improved traction, RWD models get a mechanical LSD whilst the rear-biased AWD setup incorporates Dynamic Torque Vectoring.

Adaptive dampers are on the menu too, connected to a five-mode drive select feature that also enables the driver to adjust throttle and transmission mapping at the press of a button.