Kia adds variants to Cerato and Sportage range
BY ROBBIE WALLIS | 12th Apr 2017
The Sportage range has been bolstered by the addition of an Si Premium variant, that will slot between the Si and SLi in the range as a petrol-only affair, and is priced from $30,990 plus on-road costs.
Standard equipment on the Si Premium includes 18-inch alloys, 7.0-inch infotainment system with sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, auto climate control with clean air module, LED daytime running lights, front parking sensors, auto defog, rain sensing wipers, passenger anti-jam safety power window and electrochromatic rear view mirror.
It is available in four different colours – clear white, as well as three premium colours encompassing mineral silver, fiery red and sparkling silver.
It will continue to use the Sportage’s 2.0-litre 114kW/192Nm aspirated four-cylinder unit teamed to six-speed automatic transmission.
Meanwhile, Kia has discontinued the S Premium variant in the Cerato small hatch and sedan range, and replaced it with a new variant named the Sport, priced at $22,490 driveaway.
The Cerato Sport comes with 17-inch alloys with full-size spare, 7.0-inch colour touchscreen with sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, faux leather steering wheel and shift lever trim, chrome interior door handles, soft-touch interior upper door trim, aero blade wipers, Sport badging and a rear spoiler for the sedan.
As with the Sportage, it is offered in clear white as well as three premium colours – ‘silky silver’, ‘snow white pearl’ and ‘metal stream’.
No changes are made to the Sport’s powerplant, which will continue to use the same unit in the Sportage Si Premium.
Last year Kia sold 10,924 examples of the Sportage, eclipsing the likes of the Honda CR-V (7970), Ford Kuga/Escape (4432) and Volkswagen Tiguan (3399), but still well off the pace of segment leaders like the Mazda CX-5 (24,564), Hyundai Tucson (20,132) and Toyota RAV4 (19,526).
In the first quarter of 2017, 3385 examples of the Sportage have been sold, putting it on target to comfortably eclipse its 2016 figure with 13,540 sales.
The Cerato found 13,111 homes in 2016 after an update mid-year, beating small passenger rivals like the Holden Cruze (12,904) and Mitsubishi Lancer (7292) but behind the top-selling Toyota Corolla (40,330), Hyundai i30 (37,773) and Mazda3 (36,107).
It is on track for a strong 2017 with 4654 sales recorded in the first quarter, a 93 per cent increase over its Q1, 2016 result.
