Kia wants a turbo for Oz

Ex-factory supply, market positioning and availability in right-hand drive form are all challenges Kia faces in bringing the Optima Turbo to Australia.

In the lead-up to the LA Auto Show last week, Kevin Hepworth, Kia Australia's National Public Relations Manager, told Australian journalists that the company was considering smaller, sportier turbo-engined cars for its local line-up.

The Optima Turbo, which motoring.com.au drove in the US during the week, is positioned slightly upmarket of the 2.4-litre naturally aspirated GDI Platinum model sold in Australia.

Although different wheels and two-tone coordinating trim distinguish the Turbo from the Optima Platinum, the sportier Optima remains a subtle variation on the theme – in contrast with its 'Turbo' grading.

With supply severely hampered by demand for the car in the USA and elsewhere, both variants of the Optima currently sold in Australia are already achieving everything the importer expects of them, making the Optima Turbo virtually redundant in the local range.

"We sell every Optima that lands," Mr Hepworth stated, as a preamble to explaining the difficulty in determining how many sales are split between the two levels of trim currently available, but he hazarded that the current sales split hovers around 30 per cent for the entry-level Optima Si, versus 70 per cent for the Platinum flagship.

Despite the on-going sales constraint, year to date sales for Optima, according to VFACTS, number 1844 – well over twice the number of Optimas sold in 2011, the car's first year on sale in Australia.

By the end of October last year the company had sold just 719 units. North American demand was largely responsible for that situation. In the US the Optima and the Sorento between them account for over 40 per cent of Kia sales.

Sales of an Optima Turbo in Australia could do no more than replicate sales of – most likely – the existing Optima Platinum. The factory cannot supply more Optimas just by adding a third variant to the range.

"Any car company – not just us – if you have a model selling, and you bring another model in, so you've got two models and you're only selling exactly the same number of cars because that second model's taking sales away from one of your other models, there's no value in that. That just increases complexity and cost – with no outcome," explained Mr Hepworth.

"You would need to be able to show that the 2.4 would not suffer from the inclusion of the turbo [engine variants] – that you wouldn't be just getting people who have moved up from the 2.4 to the turbo, that you're actually bringing buyers in from other areas."

More power would generate more interest in the car from a buyer demographic outside its current reach. But, given the current context – relatively small sales volumes and amortising the cost of ADR homologation for a vehicle that won't actually grow sales – Mr Hepworth rationalises that the status quo is the 'optimal' result.

"Not everybody wants a turbo vehicle... a lot of people are very happy with what they're getting in that car now," he said, before addressing the hypothetical context in which factory supply could be increased, as could sales from the Turbo variant.

"If there is a business case that says you will increase sales of this car by 10 per cent because you have a turbo version – and you can get that 10 per cent of vehicles on a regular supply [basis] – yeah, by all means.

“But you have a lot of complexities that go with it. You have a different servicing plan, all your ADR [compliance tests] have to be done again, because of the turbo... These are all lengthy processes – and costly processes – that you have to go through. We're prepared to do it, but we just need to be able to present a solid business plan that says 'this will be profitable'."

As already noted, however, this is all entirely hypothetical, because the Optima Turbo isn't even available in right-hand drive.

In fact, Kia long believed it was going to pose an insurmountable problem to develop a RHD version in a cost-effective way until parent company Hyundai pulled a rabbit out of its hat with the turbocharged Sonata (i45) in right-hook guise. So is RHD a hurdle in bringing the Optima Turbo to Australia, or not?

"That hasn't been fully explored at this stage," Mr Hepworth responded. "That's why there is no immediate program for it. That still has to go through an ADR program. Originally there was a belief that a turbo could not be adjusted to right-hand drive engineering, but our cousins in blue [Hyundai] have proven that wrong. So within the similar structures there's certainly an opportunity for it, but it may come in this car, it may come further down the track. It might be in the cee'd, it might be in a Cerato of some description, so there are options and possibilities, but there's no firm decision made."

But Mr Hepworth effectively conceded that the Optima Turbo remains the product in the global line-up that is closest to fruition for the Australian market.

"We're still some way off any performance vehicle..." he said. "We've consistently said that while pro_cee'd's a lovely car and we'd like to see it, it's so far down the track, as far as a firm business case [is concerned], it's not even funny. The Turbo cee'd has been released as a drawing. It's not even being built yet, so it's going to be some time away before we even get a look at that."

So the Optima Turbo remains the one viable forced-induction model for Kia Australia, in the short term. It's already in production and the parent company has shown how to build it in right-hand drive form, so the technical challenges can be overcome, but it's the sales and marketing aspects that look formidable. Who would buy the car in Australia, for instance?
The relative success of the Kia Soul in the US versus Australia proves a point that you can't always pick what will be popular in Australia on the basis of an American paradigm. Given the subtle good looks and presence of the Optima Turbo, it would appear to be a prime choice as a sort of executive express, rather than something more overt – a car more akin to an Aurion than an HSV.

But Kia sees the target buyer for Optima Turbo as someone who is perhaps younger and hasn't quite left his or her WRX-driving days behind.

"What it does give is an opportunity to market to a family business man who wants to have something he can enjoy as a sporty car, and yet when he goes to the office it's still a very stylish car,” said Mr Hepworth.

“A lot of people would love to be driving – just as an example – a [Subaru] WRX. But it doesn't give the right message for whatever they're doing as their business, or their family or [to the] neighbours or whatever. If you can get that same sort of enjoyment out of a car that says: 'I'm also a responsible middle Australian, driving a middle Australian car', then there's got to be some marketing value in that."

When it was put to the Kia executive that the importer could market the Optima Turbo as an 'EcoBoost/TFSI/CGI' type car, offering the appealing combination of improved fuel efficiency with driveability gains, rather than as an out-and-out sport sedan, Mr Hepworth dodged the question by answering that he has general concerns about the longevity and durability of small-displacement forced-induction engines powering larger cars.

But that is avoiding the issue: Kia already builds such a car and there's effectively no reason the manufacturer couldn't market the Optima Turbo as a lean, green large car for the eco-sensitive 21st Century.

The only apparent reason is perhaps a set-in-concrete mindset that 'Turbo' is irretrievably associated in the minds of the public with high-torque performance machines. That would be why other manufacturers have avoided using that stigmatised name for vehicles (Holden Cruze SRi, Ford Falcon EcoBoost, etc) that are aimed at buyers who want eco-driveability rather than those who want full-strength straightline performance.

Mr Hepworth did say, however, that his opinion wasn't necessarily representative of Kia's corporate view.

"There is a warranty and a reliability issue in putting a turbo on a small engine, although you've talked to our doctor in Geneva [Dr Joachin Hahn] who believes that's the way we're going, so that may well be."

Unlike other companies that have downsized their engines as base powerplants, the turbo engine would not replace the current 2.4-litre GDI powerplant if and when it comes to Australia.  

"It wouldn't be in place of the GDI engine," Mr Hepworth said. "[The Turbo] would probably be positioned as a sports option above it... there would be a cost involved in it. There is always a cost involved in the technology... and the Turbo has a cost involved. And not everybody wants a turbo engine; not everybody wants to be driving a car with that sort of intensity to it."

Although the Kia spokesman didn't say so explicitly, there's clearly a danger the public might perceive the Optima Turbo to be overpriced if it were to approach the $40,000 mark, which it practically would do if it were priced above the Optima Platinum.

In short, Kia must undertake a lot of due diligence before it brings the Optima Turbo to Australia, which is a dead-set shame, because based on our brief drive in the US, it would be a very appealing car in the local market. Mr Hepworth summed it up, listing all the pieces that must be correctly aligned and fitted for the jigsaw puzzle to be complete.

"It's a process that you have to go through to verify that there is a profitable business plan available for the car, that there is supply available – there's no point in launching something if you're not going to be able to get it – that the engineering is sound for ADR requirements, that it doesn't damage your warranty levels, and basically convincing head office that we can launch it as a conquest vehicle, not one that is going to cannibalise anything that's already in the market from Kia."

Watch out for our quick spin review of the Optima Turbo and Optima Hybrid.

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