We were talking about Stinger’s fate a few weeks ago and looks like our thoughts made some people at Kia talk about it, the first reactions came from South Korea (see here) and now is Karim Habib, Kia’s Design boss who spoke with TopGear about the Stinger future and also about the upcoming facelift.
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The South Korean automaker has recently confirmed that a facelifted version will be along later this year, now reafirmed by Mr. Habib interview with TopGear. But there is also more information about in what the coming generations of Stinger could mutate.
“It’s coming pretty soon,” Kia’s design boss Karim Habib told about the Stinger facelift. “We just wanted to strengthen a few things. If you think about the lighting – on a car that is a halo car for us – we want to make sure that we have the best technology when it comes to lighting. And, of course, it is the symbol of sportiness so what we’ve done in terms of design is try to amplify that.”
Essentially that sounds like we’ll get the standard facelift affair – new headlights and a few slight changes to the front and rear bumpers (in this case the rear tailights will suffer the bigger makeover). But it’s the Stinger’s role as a halo product and its future after the facelift that we’re really interested in. With the ever-increasing trend towards SUVs and crossovers, will Kia drop the V6-engined coupe/saloon-like Stinger completely after just one and a half generations?
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“I definitely hope that the spirit of the Stinger stays at the core of what Kia is as we change as a brand,” said Habib – previously Head of Design at both BMW and Infiniti.
“As the technology goes towards EVs and as the world and its appetite for these types of cars changes, the concept probably has to evolve as well.” Hmmm – that’s not so promising.
“But the sporty, affordable, beautiful sculpture – I really believe that’s something which needs to live on in the brand.” More promising. Could it be a four-door, electric coupe?
So well, as much interviews, at the end he finished saying nothing about facelifted or future Stinger generations, what do you think?
Photo courtesy of AutoPost
