New Sportage reaches final production stage

The new Kia Sportage has reached the final stage of its production ahead of its on sale date in August. The new European-designed model has been specifically developed for the UK’s roads and drivers. To be built at the Žilina plant in Slovakia, research and development experts from Kia Motors (UK) have been involved with the testing of the new Sportagefrom the prototype stages in mainland Europe right up until final testing in the UK itself during the early part of 2010.

Being involved right from the early stages of prototype testing on project ‘SL’ (the internal codename for the new Sportage), in both dynamic and static performance testing, has meant that we have been able to ensure UK market needs have been incorporated throughout the development process" explains Neil Kent, Product Specialist from Kia Motors (UK). 

"Once we had completed testing for ride quality, steering and dynamics with our European colleagues, vehicles were then brought to the UK for final set-up, benchmarking and evaluation.  UK testing is invaluable as it allows us to ensure we have the right levels of comfort and performance for the very specific road conditions we have here," he added.

Kia engineers at the Korean firm’s Technical Centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany are confident the new Sportage will meet the demands of European customers as well as the challenging variety of roads they drive on.

Following in the footsteps of Soul, Venga and Sorento, the new Sportage will be the fourth consecutive new Kia to be launched which has undergone development in the UK.

"Being involved right from the early stages of prototype testing on project ‘SL’ (the internal codename for the new Sportage), in both dynamic and static performance testing, has meant that we have been able to ensure UK market needs have been incorporated throughout the development process" explains Neil Kent, Product Specialist from Kia Motors (UK). 

"Once we had completed testing for ride quality, steering and dynamics with our European colleagues, vehicles were then brought to the UK for final set-up, benchmarking and evaluation.  UK testing is invaluable as it allows us to ensure we have the right levels of comfort and performance for the very specific road conditions we have here," he added.

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Michael Cole, Managing Director for Kia Motors (UK) Limited, commented: "The United Kingdom is the largest market for Kia in Europe so great efforts are made to ensure that our new products not only look and feel ‘European’ but that they perform just as UK customers want them to.  Sportage has been in the UK for over fifteen years – I’m convinced that the new generation’s striking design and great on-road ability will find favour with both our loyal existing customers and people who are new to the Kia brand."

The new car goes on sale in the UK from 1 August 2010.

Author: Faye Sunderland, June 21st, 2010
Filed under: Kia | No Comments »