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Korean American: Kia's latest 'brand builder' takes aim at the North American mid-size SUV segment - New Vehicle

Automotive Industries, Oct, 2002 by John Peter

Peter Butterfield, Kia's executive vice president and chief operating officer, makes it very clear that the company's new mid-sized SUV, the Sorento, is not a replacement for the soon-to-be-discontinued Sportage. It's obvious from that statement that Kia is trying to separate itself from it's past.

Entering the North American market in 1994 with the Sephia sedan, followed a year later by the Sportage, Kia earned its rightful place alongside Hyundal and Daewoo as manufacturers of low-cost, entry-level vehicles.

But Kia surprised the world when it dropped the Sedona smack-in-the- middle of the crowded minivan segment a year-and-a-half ago. Butter-field says that this was the first step toward changing that perception.

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"When we brought the Sedona minivan out, people really questioned what Kia was doing in the minivan segment." Butterfield says. "How can they possibly compete?"

They competed by bringing a decent product to the market at a price well below their competition.

It's not surprising that in these times of incentive-conscious consumers, Kia's sales have increased 19 percent for the first six months of this year and is on track to sell 250,000 vehicles by year's end.

Butterfield refers to the Sorento as Kia's change vehicle with a capitol "C". Though the Sorento was designed and built specifically for the North American market, there are no differences between the Korean and the U.S. versions.

"Overall they're the same," says Mike Wilde, Sorento product strategy manager. "The Koreans get two extra engine options, a diesel and a 2.4L, four-cylinder."

There's also a third row seat in the Korean Sorento that doesn't meet U.S. safely standards.

But unlike most of its competitors. Kia engineers pushed for body-on-frame construction.

"It was a conscious decision," Wilde confirms. "There are advantages to body-on-frame: durability reliability, off-road performance, plus it gave us a platform with the flexibility to do other things. We could do a pickup truck or a large SUV."

Wilde says that when the program was started four years ago, there was quite a bit of discussion about uni-body verses body-on-frame.

"It was an open discussion," Wilde adds. "It wasn't as though it was going to be uni-body and we had to convince them otherwise. But we did do an extensive study, including a JD Power study, on the whole trend in mid-size SUVs."

Wilde agrees that it may have been somewhat of a gamble to go a different direction than everyone else.

"You know a uni-body is a little bit lighter and probably would have been easier to manufacture," says Wilde, "with everything else (we manufacture) being uni-body. And perhaps we might have been able to share more components with (Hyundai) Santa Fe. but we wanted to have a unique vehicle for Kia."

Engineers also made a conscious decision to add quite a few non-Korean suppliers to the list.

Borg Warner supplies the transmission and four-wheel-drive system.

Delco Electronics provides the audio system that was tuned by Paulman of USA. the same company that tunes sound systems for Lexus. The automatic load leveling system and shock absorbers are from Sachs of Germany and Porsche tuned the suspension. Sorento also features JCI Homelink and Michelin tires.

All of the 50,000 units slated for North America will be built at Kia's Hwasong plant, though, Wilde says. "We spent quite a few years working with the factory to fine tune this vehicle for the U.S. buyers,"

According to Kia, the name Sorento exemplifies European design and Southern California technology though Butterfield agrees that it bears a strong resemblance to the Lexus LS300.

While the profile may mimic Lexus, the front end is all traditional SUM with its muscular fenders, large grille and high-shouldered hood.

The Sorento comes standard with a 3.5L four-valve DOHC multi-port fuel-injected V-6 that produces 192 hp at 5,500 rpm and 217 lb.ft of torque at 3,000 rpm and runs on regular fuel. The V-6 is mated to an electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission.

The body utilizes reinforced high strength steel in the suspension pickup points, front shock towers, side sills, door beams and all pillars. The rigid body sits on a ladder frame with nine crossmembers and attaches at 10 points. The front suspension is a double wishbone coil spring with damper and a five-link coil sprung solid axle in the rear.

Sorento is available in both two-and four-wheel-drive. The 2WD version directs power to the rear wheels. 4WD options include an electronic part-time shift-an-the-fly that has a transfer case equipped with low range. The EX model offers optional full-time automatic torque-on-demand 4WD that also has low range. The system detects slippage and automatically transfers power from the rear wheels to the front wheels. An Eaton limited-slip differential that can transfer up to 50 percent of the torque between the rear wheels is standard an both 4WD models.

Sorento comes in two trim levels. The LX comes standard with V-6, automatic, air conditioning, power windows and locks, power-heated mirrors, side curtain airbags, eight-speaker sound system, eight-way adjustable drivers seat, 60/40 split rear seat, privacy glass, cruise control, full overhead console and four power points.

Automotive Industry

Korean American: Kia's latest 'brand builder' takes aim at the North American mid-size SUV segment - New Vehicle

Automotive Industries, Oct, 2002 by John Peter

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