Kia Rondo diesel axed

Kia Australia has deleted the turbo-diesel engine from its seven-seat Rondo people-mover range, citing low sales as the reason.

The low-volume Kia Rondo will continue with 2.0-litre petrol engines across the board, paired with a six-speed automatic transmission as standard.

The range has been rejigged with the entry-level Rondo Si model now priced from $31,490, up by $1250, and now includes satellite navigation as standard. Previously satnav was only offered on the high-end Platinum petrol models – another potential reason why diesel sales were so low.

The mid-grade SLi petrol model has also been dropped, which rationalises the Rondo range to just two models, the Si ($31,490) and the Platinum ($39,990).

"Sales numbers were unsustainable for the diesel Rondo," Kia Australia's general manager for media and corporate communications, Kevin Hepworth, explained.

Sales of the Kia Rondo in Australia have more than halved for the same period a year prior, from 305 units to 149. Meanwhile the bigger, more expensive Carnival has managed 2229 sales for the same period.

"It's a niche model," conceded Hepworth of the Rondo.

"But rather than risk the entire Rondo range [by keeping the diesel] we decided to remove the diesel models," he said.

Although Kia Australia expects to sustain the current levels of interest in the Rondo, Hepworth noted the addition of satnav on low- and high-spec models may attract a few more buyers.

"We think it's better than what its sales figures reflect."

With the 1.7-litre turbo-diesel engine (100kW/320Nm) binned for the Australian market, the 2.0-litre petrol engine (122kW/213Nm) soldiers on. Fuel consumption is claimed to be 7.9L/100km, according to Kia, and like all models from the Korean car maker comes with an industry-leading seven-year warranty.

The next big launch from Kia will be the all-new Sportage small SUV, which is due here in early 2016.