Stinger on Kia's Aussie wishlist

There's been little news recently concerning the Kia GT4 Stinger concept that first saw the light of day at the 2014 Detroit motor show.

But Kia design chief Peter Schreyer indicated late last year that it would go into production – and local Kia COO Damien Meredith has told motoring.com.au that it's one of two sporty cars he would like to see fill out the local product range.

Kia Australia would even introduce the sporty halo models as loss leaders if the brand's total sales were at or above a certain threshold. That is fundamentally why the company is no longer selling the Koup or the pro_cee'd GT here, Meredith says. The company is yet to achieve that sales volume.

"In simplistic terms, in regards to pro_cee'd it was volume, lack of an auto transmission – and coming out of Europe. Those were the three things that we based that decision on," he said during the launch of the Picanto this week.

"In regards to the Koup, it was basically just the volume. It's a good car, but we just thought that we wanted to tighten up in regards to the variants that we had in the Cerato range, and focus on the five-door hatch. That was the decision we made."

But he and his management team at Kia Australia are not averse to sporty models in the range, even if they boost brand image more so than actual revenue. And what would be the trigger for a loss-leading halo car?

"I think the trigger would be around about 45,000 to 50,000 cars… maybe two years [away]," he said. Kia sold 39,000 vehicles in 2015 and expects growth of 16 per cent in 2016, so Meredith's timeframe may be conservative. But that's all academic for the moment, without the product available to sell.

According to Meredith, one of the two options under consideration for Kia Australia's sporty product offering isn't confirmed, and the other – the Stinger – is sort of unofficially confirmed… we think. Word out of Europe indicates the four-door GT will be given preference over the Stinger as Kia's performance model in that region, but the Stinger looks set for a run in Asia and North America. And possibly Australia.

"There's a couple of options for us," Meredith explained. "[Cerato GT] is one that we would look at very carefully, if it was available for us."

"The other is Stinger, but whether or not they make that in right-hand drive, that's a question.

"Certainly they would be the two cars we would look at in regards to the dual-halo effect."

Meredith says that Kia Australia would accept both cars, "if available."

And without going into full drivetrain details, Meredith says that both cars would probably sell in Australia exclusively in dual-clutch transmission form.