Niro not 'compelling' for Kia Australia

Kia Australia's COO has asked the importer's product planning team to head back to the drawing board for the Niro, a hybrid SUV unveiled at the Chicago motor show earlier this year.

Damien Meredith told motoring.com.au during the local launch of the Picanto micro hatch he was dubious the Niro would be viable in Australia as it stands.

"I can't see a smaller sized SUV – whilst it is a very good car I believe – and hybrid… being more expensive than Sportage, and gaining traction in the marketplace to do enough [sales] volume," Meredith said at the time.

"It would be a huge sales and marketing challenge…"

But it's not off the table altogether.

"We are looking at it seriously; I have asked for the product planning team to come back to [Kia Australia MD, SH Cho] and myself with basically a more compelling story in regards to how it would fit in our range – and how we could get it to work in Australia."

If it did end up in Australia, sitting in Kia showrooms alongside the Sportage, it would also have to share the limelight with an even smaller SUV that will be "based on Rio", as Meredith explained.

That car is much more likely to come here, with Kia Australia enthusiastic about its prospects here, with prospective rivals like the Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V already kicking goals in the local market.

"We're always asking about it; it's certainly in development," Meredith said. "Again, the timing we're not too sure of, but as soon as it's available we'll be putting our hand up for it."

The Kia exec was very circumspect when questioned about the Telluride, an SUV developed for the North American market and a "bit bigger" than Pajero. It is, as Meredith acknowledged, approaching the 200 Series Toyota LandCruiser in size – and that's a market niche Toyota has well and truly all to itself. In the longer term it might be a market segment Kia could and would tackle in Australia, but there are more pressing concerns in the meantime.

"I think personally what I'd like to do is I would like to get Sorento sales up quite strong – dramatically – before we went over the top of Sorento," Meredith explained.

It's not an SUV, so naturally the Optima wagon is ruled out once and for all. But there's still a chance for the Optima Hybrid, Meredith suggested.

"Wagon no… Hybrid we'd look at it," he succinctly commented.