Kia Ireland has announced details and pricing of the launch models for the All New Sportage.
The dedicated European version of the best-selling Kia Sportage has been carefully crafted to establish new benchmarks across the SUV segment in Europe. It combines a sleek yet muscular and modern exterior design with a cutting-edge premium interior featuring a swooping integrated curved display that houses the very latest advancements in connectivity tech.
Developed on a new ‘N3’ architecture, the European Sportage benefits from a European-focused high-tech engineering program that has realized an optimal wheelbase and ideal dimensions and proportions for European roads.
This meticulous approach has helped create an SUV that is a perfect fit for European requirements, underscoring its everyday practicality and usability. Such a progressive and tailored package has also resulted in improved luggage capacity, headroom and legroom compared to the outgoing Sportage model, with outstanding legroom for the second-row passengers.
State-of-the-art hybrid powertrains further enhance the European Sportage’s capabilities, serving to dramatically reduce emissions and enhance fuel economy. An advanced plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model represents another first for the European Sportage, realizing eco-friendly electric-only driving that can cover most daily trips from the home to work or for daily shopping needs.
The all-new fifth-generation Sportage also debuts a high-tech hybrid (HEV) variant and a mild-hybrid (MHEV) gasoline powertrain. The very latest internal combustion clean petrol and diesel engines are also available, ensuring that the new Sportage can meet a wide breadth of customer needs and requirements. The diesel engine can also be paired with the MHEV tech, serving to further reduce emissions and improve overall fuel economy.
“The all-new Sportage has been carefully designed, developed and honed specifically for Europe, in the process breaking boundaries and establishing new benchmarks in the SUV segment,” said Ronan Flood, Managing Director Kia Ireland.
“With its forward-thinking exterior design and its pioneering interior, the new Sportage combines a dynamic road presence on the outside with a class-leading, driver-focused premium cabin that benefits from the very latest breakthrough tech features.”
“The Sportage is also a key model for Kia Ireland having been our best-selling model for over 10 years. This new model is no different and we anticipate sales of nearly 3,000 in 2022 and in our first year full year in 2023 sales in advance of 3,500 .“
LOCAL MARKET OFFER FOR IRELAND
The Kia Ireland initial product offer features a choice of four powertrains and four trim levels. PHEV models will follow in Quarter 2.
The entry level model K2 features the 1.6CRDi (115 PS) engine and standard equipment features includes 17” alloys, LED headlamps, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera with dynamic guidelines, auto dimming rear view mirror, cruise control with speed limiter, lane keep assist, lane follow assist and forward collision avoidance.
The K3 at €38,000 comes with a choice of either 1.6 MHEV TDGi (150PS) or 1.6 CRDi (115PS) adds 18” alloys, heated front and rear seats, power adjustable front seats and 12.3” infotainment screen with Kia Connect (UVO connectivity). The K3 HEV (€42,000) also features smart cruise control and highway driving assistance.
Moving up a trim level the K4 is available with 1.6 Diesel and 1.6 Gasoline HEV at €40,500 and €44,500 respectively. Spec highlights for the K4 include exterior enhancements like matt chrome coated front bumper and door garnish and silver painted rear skid plates. Comfort and tech features include beige leather upholstery, driver memory seats, ventilated front seats, curved 12.3” inch driver cluster display and wireless phone charger. The K4 HEV (€44,500) add an additional safety feature – blind spot collision avoidance.
The top of the range GT-line (with 136PS CRDi) enjoys even more luxurious specification with features including 19”alloys, special GT-line sports upholstery, GT-line exterior styling, sports pedals and smart power tailgate as standard.
Trim levels and pricing for PHEV models will be announced closer to launch.
DRIVING DYNAMICS
Based on the company’s new ‘N3’ architecture, every element of the new Sportage has been designed and developed to enhance the SUV’s premium stature.
The new N3 platform has also heavily influenced new Sportage’s driving characteristics, combining a refined, stable and comfortable ride with agile and dynamic handling. An advanced steering and suspension system that has been meticulously tuned helps bring these qualities together.
To create a dynamic, engaging and optimal driving experience for European roads, the new Sportage debuts numerous highly innovative technology breakthroughs. A new-generation Electronic Control Suspension (ECS) provides optimum comfort and superior safety levels at all times thanks to its continuous damping control.
The technology reacts quickly to the Sportage’s body movements and steering inputs, making rapid damper adjustments to counteract heave, pitch and body roll through corners. It also adapts the damping force of the suspension to comfortably accommodate obstacles and reduce wheel impact from aftershocks.
ADVANCED POWERTRAINS
The new Sportage will be launched with a comprehensive range of powerful, responsive and efficient powertrains, including state-of-the-art hybrid electric technologies as well as the very latest-generation clean gasoline and diesel internal combustion (IC) engines.
From the very start of development, new Sportage was intended to embrace the latest electrified powertrain technologies, making it one of the most efficient SUVs available. Developed on an advanced architecture that encompasses powertrain electrification innovations, both the HEV and PHEV models of the new European Sportage deliver a no-compromise eco-friendly SUV package.
The packaging for the HEV and PHEV (available Q2 in Ireland) models has been carefully arranged to minimize impact on passenger and luggage space. For the HEV derivative, the battery pack is placed under the second-row seats, resulting in legroom that is the same as the IC engine Sportage models.
For the PHEV Sportage, the high-voltage battery is placed centrally between the two axles under the body of the SUV, ensuring a balanced weight distribution and an interior space that is practical, comfortable and versatile.
All three state-of-the-art hybrid models – HEV, PHEV and one of the two MHEV derivatives – that help make up the fifth-generation Sportage line-up feature Kia’s award-winning 1.6-liter T-GDI engine.
Along with being sporty, engaging and highly responsive, the advanced four-cylinder unit also features Continuous Variable Valve Duration (CVVD), a sophisticated technology that controls the duration of a valve lift event to dramatically improve performance, fuel economy and emissions.
The state-of-the-art battery pack in the Sportage Plug-in Hybrid features a high-tech battery management unit that constantly monitors the state of the battery, including factors such as current, voltage, isolation and fault diagnosis. The pack also has an advanced cell monitoring unit that measures and monitors cell voltage and temperature.
For the Sportage Plug-in Hybrid, the compact turbo engine is part of an advanced powertrain package that also features a 66.9kW permanent magnet traction electric motor and a 13.8kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack. This powertrain combination delivers a total system power output of 265PS, with 180PS originating from the T-GDI engine.
For the Sportage Hybrid model, the acclaimed 1.6 T-GDI engine combines with a 44.2kW permanent magnet traction electric motor and a 1.49kWh lithium-ion polymer battery to deliver an efficient and responsive powertrain. Total system power is 230PS.
The Sportage also features a gasoline MHEV that benefits from the 1.6 T-GDI (150PS) engine, with the hybridization technology working to reduce emissions and enhance frugality.
Also included in the launch line-up of the new European Sportage is a highly efficient 1.6-litre clean diesel engine that is available with 115PS or 136PS power outputs.
The 136PS clean diesel model is the second MHEV powertrain available in the Sportage, with the hybridisation technology further reducing emissions and enhancing efficiency of the SUV.
The diesel engine also features the latest SCR active emissions control technologies that further cuts pollutants such as NOx and particulate matter.
The new Sportage is mated to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (7DCT). A six-speed manual transmission (MT) is also available, while a 6-speed intelligent manual transmission (iMT) is exclusive to the MHEV models.
Both the Sportage Hybrid and Sportage Plug-in Hybrid models are equipped with the latest-generation six-speed automatic transmission (6AT.
STATE-OF-THE-ART INTERIOR SPACE
The interior of the new Sportage plays with boldness in character, softness in qualities and innovation in technology, creating a driver-orientated space that is truly state-of-the-art. The cabin has been carefully crafted to fuse breakthrough tech with luxury features, premium materials and modern style.
At the centre of the new Sportage’s modern cabin sits a beautifully sculpted integrated curved display with touchscreen and finely detailed sporty air vents. The curved display sweeps across the front of the interior, giving the cockpit dramatic width and depth.
The high-tech 12.3-inch touchscreen and the multimode touch display act as the nerve centre for driver and passenger connectivity, functionality and usability needs. Both have been created to be easy-to-use, highly intuitive and soft to touch.
The 12.3-inch instrument cluster is equipped with the latest-generation full thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display for incredibly precise and clear graphics–(K4, GT-line only). With such advanced and secure high-tech connectivity, new Sportage benefits from the latest over-the-air software and map updates.
The advanced connectivity software in the new Sportage allows users in Europe to connect with their vehicle remotely via the Kia Connect smartphone app. The interactive, easy-to-use tech also gives users access to key onboard features, providing total peace of mind with a simple tap to check that their Sportage is locked and the doors are closed, and full convenience by informing users exactly where they parked their SUV.
Throughout the cabin, the highest quality materials that are sumptuous to touch have been used, while dynamic colour options add vibrancy and energy. The driver and front passenger seats combine innovation, comfort and functionality in a sporting slim design.
They house fast-charge USB ports and, further enhancing passenger convenience, at the rear of the seats are integrated hanger-type designs within the slim headrests, allowing clothing and handbags to be easily and conveniently hooked into place.
The European Sportage’s intelligent interior space, which combines practicality, functionality and versatility, is underpinned by a compact wheelbase of 2,680mm, a width of 1,865mm, length of 4,515mm and height of 1,645mm. This has resulted in a package that leads the way in legroom, headroom and luggage capacity.
The European Sportage offers 996mm legroom for second-row passengers (955mm for the PHEV model) while headroom at the rear is 998mm. Luggage capacity is 591 litres (VDA) for the ICE models.
To further maximize convenience, the rear seats can fold down in a 40:20:40 split allowing for 1,780 litres of total cargo space. This intelligent interior functionality, with the rear seats folding down by simply pulling a lever, comes as standard across all Sportage models in Europe.
DRIVEWISE LEADS THE WAY IN SAFETY
With safety being a top priority during development, the fifth-generation Sportage is one of the safest vehicles in its class.
Underneath the sleek exterior design of new Sportage is a reinforced and lightweight body structure that has high torsional rigidity. New Sportage has different safety restraint and structure system applications, including driver airbag, passenger airbag, side curtain airbags, front-seat centre airbag and low-side airbags.
Kia’s acclaimed Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) technology – also known as DriveWise – helps the new Sportage to avoid potential hazards, fully protecting occupants and other road users on every journey.
As part of its DriveWise ADAS package, the new Sportage features Kia’s industry-leading Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist System with Junction Turning functionality (HEV only) which helps avoid collisions with oncoming cars, pedestrians and bicycles when turning left or right at junctions.
Highway Driving Assist (HDA) maintains a set distance and speed from the vehicle ahead when driving on a highway and helps to centre the new Sportage in its lane. HDA can also adjust vehicle speed according to the speed limit. (HEV & PHEV only)
Navigation-based Smart Cruise Control (NSCC) helps drive the new Sportage at a safe speed on the highway using real-time navigation data. Further extending the scope of NSCC, for parts of the highway where there are corners and curves, the technology automatically reduces the speed of travel before encountering the corner or curve. Upon getting back to the ‘straight’ of the highway, NSCC resets the speed limit to the original level. (HEV & PHEV only)
When operating the turning signal to change lanes, if there is a risk of collision with a rear-side vehicle, a new Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist (BCA) system will provide a warning to the driver. After the warning, if the risk of collision increases, BCA actively controls the new Sportage to help avoid a collision. BCA is also active in situations such as parallel parking manoeuvres, further helping to avoid collision with rear-side vehicles. (K4 HEV only)
INSTANT VISUAL IMPACT
The exterior of the new Sportage establishes new design boundaries, giving it dramatic presence on European roads.
Tense and crisp lines ripple along the refined body, amplifying exquisite styling tensions. At the same time, clean but muscular surfaces join forces with intricate graphics to give the SUV a dynamic and assertive road presence.
Revealed earlier this year to great acclaim from the design community, Kia’s new design language – Opposites United – is at the core of the new Sportage, influencing every aspect of its appearance and character.
The thought-provoking and daring philosophy is formed of five pillars: Joy for Reason, Power to Progress, Technology for Life, Tension for Serenity and Bold for Nature. The last pillar – Bold for Nature – has profoundly influenced the design creation of new Sportage, embodying the natural world and creating a design identity that takes a daring, emotional, modern but organic form.
From the front, new Sportage showcases a precise and intricate design form with its detailed-orientated black grille graphic stretching across the width of the face. The technical graphic pulls together the main frontal features of the new Sportage, presenting a striking look.
The grille links Kia’s modern signature Tiger Nose grille to the distinctive futuristic-styled boomerang-shaped LED DRLs (daytime running lights), which in turn create solid boundary lines for the striking Matrix LED head lamps also known as intelligent front lighting system. (Matrix head lamps K4 & GT-line only)
Paying homage to its sports utility heritage, the side profile of the new Sportage creates a stirring road presence with taut lines cutting across clean but refined body surfaces that seamlessly blend the contrasting volumes together.
The addition of a chrome beltline that kicks up onto the rear side of the new Sportage creates harmonious lines with the rear spoiler, further adding to the sporting pedigree of the car.
The European Sportage maintains its strong road presence right at the rear with a muscular swooping fastback design that flows into the rear lamps, which have been crafted to give the impression that they cut into the body with fine precision.
The razor rear lamps are connected by a slim horizontal design, giving the new Sportage a stunningly wide impression from the back.
