Not-for-South-Africa facelift Kia Stinger finally shows its true self

After a comparatively long period of spy images and speculation, Kia has revealed the updated Stinger for what is likely to be the first and only update to the sports sedan.

With the various degrees of camouflage dropped, the revisions are unsurprisingly small given that the Stinger only made its world debut three years ago. Externally, the headlights now come with multi-reflected LEDs as an option and feature a blacked-out look, with the most prominent change being the new full-width LED taillights made up of 10 diodes claimed to resemble a chequered flag, and newly designed 18 or 19-inch alloy wheels.

From the options list, two appearance packages have been added; the Dark which adds a gloss black finish to the rear diffuser, wheels and exhaust system and for the United States only, the Black which comes with matte black 19-inch alloys, black mirror caps and a new bootlid spoiler.

The subtle changes continue inside in the form of new metallic inserts, 64 instead of the previous six ambient lighting colours, a frameless rear-view mirror, diamond quilted Nappa leather trimmed seats in brown, red or Saturn Black, new stitch work on the dashboard and seats, and in place of the previous eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system, Kia’s latest 10.25-inch display as well as a seven-inch digital instrument cluster.

For now, no technical details have been divulged, but in accordance with previous reports, certain market will continue with the existing 2.0-litre turbo and 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 engines, while others will reportedly get the new 2.5 T-GDI allegedly upgraded from 210 kW to 224 kW with torque remaining as is at 420 Nm, and a 274kW/510Nm version of the Genesis G80’s twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6.

As before, only an eight-speed automatic gearbox will be offered but buyers will have the choice of rear-or-all-wheel-drive on the lesser model only. No mentioning has however been made of the 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine that, if set to continue, will more than likely mirror the outputs of the unit in the new Sedona or Sorento.

Kia Motors South Africa has meanwhile confirmed that it won’t be bringing the Stinger back to the local market after parting with only 28 examples of the V6 engine’d GT between July and September 2018.

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