by "Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
Published 06/20/2017 at 06:46
by "Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
Published 06/20/2017 at 06:46
Tags: Kia
STARS: 0
Actually it’s pretty decent, I just don’t get into cars until they start pushing on the 200 hp mark. After that I’m pretty open to any design, being the very model of a modern major IS THAT A MANUAL?!!!
Press pictures usually show off your top trim, right? Right?! Not just the base Euro-diesel model, right? Riiight?!! Is Kia trying to imply this Rio-based CUV is going to be...interesting? Handbrake in the correct place, three pedals, relatively flat-bottomed steering wheel, maximum available size infotainment screen...but the seats are throwing me off in this leaked picture. I can’t tell what level the trim is! At least a US “EX” but maybe not an “SX.”
Don’t be writing no postdated checks in here, Kia! Like me in grade school, they aren’t accepted here!!
You know what? The Sportage became a crossover in 2004. The Sorento became one in 2009 so this is only the third “real” CUV for the US from Kia. Only took 8 years! Thank goodness CUVs weren’t trendy in the US until last year or else this would be like the parent you dont live with after the divorce, late to the recital...err, game... party... all of them!
For the US, the Borrego was a one-time only SUV back in 2009. The Rondo, Soul, and now Niro just continue the tradition of offering tall hatchbacks/wagons and telling everyone they’re whatever people are buying at the time.
Congrats to Kia on their fourth vehicle to ever power more than two wheels in the US! I can’t wait for the official reveal and info in July.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
**I guess people are just posting the entire car now in order to take advantage of the search traffic!
New 1.0T engine making 112 hp, so that explains a lot. Kia is packing these European Stonics with tons of safety tech, content, and customization while minimizing the powertrain in order to keep the proce way down. I’m extremely curious about the US spec now because there’s no way that will work here while staying out of the Soul’s way.
Sorry everyone, this car has been constant curve ball after curve ball. I’m just leaving it alone because I think the Stonic is going to vary greatly market to market.
"PS9" (PS9)
06/20/2017 at 06:51, STARS: 1
Before long, every car will be a crossover. Even supercars will be crossovers. There will be a generation of humans that don’t remember other car body styles because of how long ago they were made.
Even the Miata will turn into a crossover. There is no stopping this.
"Stapleface" (patrickgruden)
06/20/2017 at 06:54, STARS: 0
Not a bad looking little CUV.
But, I question the name. I wonder if it comes to fruition if it will be called something else. I think Stonic is too closely related to Sonic, which Chevy sells globally.
"FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem" (fuelstratifiedinjection)
06/20/2017 at 06:58, STARS: 0
That is so much better looking than the Hyundai Kona. Now KIA’s gotta give the Sportage a better looking front end and they are set.
"Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
06/20/2017 at 06:59, STARS: 0
So what you’re saying is that Mitsubishi is ahead of the game? I knew it!
Honestly though I think crossovers used to be the third car (after your sedan and truck). Now I think they are the second car (so truck, utility, sedan) but will end up being the primary very soon (utility, truck, sedan). So truck sales should have a bit of a drop around 2019 and 2020 which will terrify the entire industry and all news articles will be dystopian short stories while your real world observations will prove nothing has changed besides more model names youve never heard of and more body cladding than 2004.
"Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
06/20/2017 at 07:06, STARS: 0
Agreed! Though the Kona is weirdly growing on me even with the over cladding on the lights for some reason. The next Santa Fe is supposed to look like the Kona and that’s horrifying but maybe that’s what big CUVs need...some terror! But yeah, the Sportage front end needs to be fixed. It’s Kia’s oldest nameplate, it should be better than that.
"Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
06/20/2017 at 07:11, STARS: 0
Stonic is the name (I think it’s being pronounced Stow-nik as opposed to Staw-nik). If people don’t have an issue with a midsize sedan named Altima and a midsize sedan named Optima then a crossover called Stonic versus a compact called Sonic will only bother your phone’s autocorrect.
"FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem" (fuelstratifiedinjection)
06/20/2017 at 07:19, STARS: 1
The Kona does not look that bad at all in blueish grey. I still think that they went overboard with the plastic cladding though. Tbh I hope Hyundai won’t mess up the Santa Fe which I got to admit is one of my favorite SUVs on the market.
"PS9" (PS9)
06/20/2017 at 07:43, STARS: 0
Truck sales globally? Sure, I could see that.
Truck sales in ‘murica? NOPE. The best selling car in the US is the Camry. But the best selling vehicle by a long shot is the F150, and has been for something like 20 years. A crew cab to a lot of people was already a crossover with a truck bed, so they’re already poised to keep Truck buyers in the tent in the event that a crossover is the only alternative. American leadership in this market segment has survived multiple economic depressions, buying trends and even domestic automaker bankruptcy. Given the durability here, I’m not convinced a world full of crossovers also means a world where american trucks are no longer kings of their market segment.
There’s also cultural considerations to account for. The american truck maker’s death grip on the top of the market against worthy long time challengers like the Taco, Tundra and Titan can be traced directly to the buyers, who see buying american trucks as patriotic. For the entire time the F150 has dominated the truck market, Japanese automakers have been trying to coax buyers over to the lot and make big overtures like building the Tundra in Texas and Nissan putting american diesel under the hood. But for all 20 of those years it has been a Sisyphean struggle with little inroads gained; 8 F150s will leave the lot before 1 Tundra does. Eight! The Canyon, a new truck unknown to buyers began it’s run in the market by selling almost as well as the Tundra does. Compared to even the Ram, third place in the market, the Titan is microscopic. It’s not hard to see why VAG said ‘No thanks’ to selling it’s crew cab truck here in the US given these realities.
In the mind of ‘murican truck buyers, not even a bald eagle made of shotguns is as patriotic as supporting an american truck maker. Breaking this I think would require a cultural earthquake that would render america a very different nation and people than it has been for the last century, and that is not happening anytime soon.
"Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
06/20/2017 at 08:01, STARS: 0
Youre relying in the sales of one nameplate to hold up an entire segment. We have maybe like 10 trucks going against probably around 120 CUVs and a couple of them (Rogue and CR-V) where beginning to run close enough to Silverado and Ram to be noticeable. Like I said, there is going to be a year over year decline (doesn’t mean sales wont be huge) as people are going to buy utility, truck, then sedan. But trucks will become more athletic and luxurious because of the shift and sedans will become extremely sporty because they will no longer NEED to be an appliance/tool first. No one is realizing that the vehicles we love are about to become far better as CUVs take on the day-to-day necessity buy.
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
06/20/2017 at 09:21, STARS: 0
Itll be kinda like a high tech XV crosstrek without AWD. They should have made it SLIGHTLY more potent so the motor doesnt need to be wrung out and given it a good AWD system. I think it would still sell at a higher price point because people love small cuvs with cladding nowadays.
I think toyota might beat them in the weird ugly mini cuv game with the ch-r
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
06/20/2017 at 09:25, STARS: 0
Miata crossover? Somehow I feel like I would be okay with that
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
06/20/2017 at 09:27, STARS: 0
Pretty sure cuvs are the primary car more often than trucks, even though trucks sell more. A lot of the trucks are for commercial use whereas like every suburban family now owns and primarily drives a CUV.
Sedans definitely are dying off though.
"PS9" (PS9)
06/20/2017 at 10:08, STARS: 0
It ain’t just one name plate. Numbers 1,2,3 for the best selling vehicles in the united states are the f150, silverado and the ram. The worst selling truck still sells 100k more vehicles than the best selling car. The F150 by itself sold more vehicles than all of Hyundai last year. The market performance for a single truck is comparable to that of an entire brand of cars, and it has been this way for almost 20 years. You can’t sweep this kind of consistently dominant position in the market under the rug.
We have maybe like 10 trucks going against probably around 120 CUVs
This is not a valuable basis for comparison without knowing the volume of each market segment. So lets explore that.
For the Truck market, There are 11 models representing 2.7M vehicles. For CUVs and SUVs, there are 55 models representing 5.9M vehicles ( 1 , 2 , 3 for reference). The following things become apparent from this;
Despite having only ~1/5th as much variety in terms of models, Trucks still sell half the volume of all CUVs. This means truck buyers don’t care too much about having many models to chose from.
If you isolate the 3 truck market leaders, you’ll find that they represent seventy percent of all truck sales volume. The leaders are all american branded, and the best selling foreign brand truck is 300k vehicles behind the ram. 300k! Competing against american trucks is hard.
At 1.8M vehicles, the three truck market leaders by themselves represent 30% of all CUV and SUV volume in the United states. There isn’t a single CUV or SUV that represents this volume in it’s own segment, nor does any single brand claim 30% of the CUV market.
tl;dr-> The position of the truck (specifically the american truck) at the top of the US market is so comfortably dominant that CUV challengers are hundreds of thousands of cars away. The best selling CUV is at a distance 7th place.
Like I said, there is going to be a year over year decline (doesn’t mean sales wont be huge) as people are going to buy utility, truck, then sedan.
If it’s true that CUVs will take over and displace trucks tomorrow, then we should see the beginnings of that trend today. Trucks should be shrinking in sales volume year over year. Are they?
Between 2008 and now , the F150 grew almost 200% in volume, and has posted about 40-70k year over year gains in since the carpocalypse. The sliverado grew at nearly the same rate, but posted smaller gains . You’d think the Ram would fare much worse than the other 3, but it’s volume grew at an astonishing 276% over the same time. I’m sorry, but a world where you need a multiplier to quantify the growth of truck market volume in the united states is not one where they can be displaced from the top of the market by a segment that can’t even break the top five of all vehicle sales.
and a couple of them (Rogue and CR-V) where beginning to run close enough to Silverado and Ram to be noticeable.
Close? The Silverado has 200k over the CR-V! The CR-V in volume is as close to the silverado as Germany is to Japan. It is at a very distant 7th place in the market overall, and not at all in any kind of position to challenge american truck hegemony in either volume or growth.
"IAN_Z" (theonline)
06/20/2017 at 14:37, STARS: 0
The Santa Fe will get the same lighting setup as the Kona, but the plastic cladding won’t be used on other models.
"IAN_Z" (theonline)
06/20/2017 at 14:38, STARS: 0
That’s a pretty handsome little SUV. I especially like the purpley gray color.