More power for upgraded Kia Stinger

The upgraded 2021 Kia Stinger will bring mild powertrain, design and equipment changes when it arrives in Australia from around September.

Contrary to recent reports, the more powerful 3.5-litre turbo-petrol V6 from the new Genesis G80 will not be offered in the Kia Stinger, which may or may not be replaced at the end of its life-cycle.

Sources close to Kia say the updated sports sedan will continue with its current powertrain range. That means it will be headlined by the same 3.3-litre turbo-petrol V6 engine (272kW/510Nm).

The more potent 3.5-litre turbo-petrol V6 (280kW/530Nm) powering the upcoming Genesis G80 luxury sedan will not be offered with the Stinger.

When the updated 2021 Kia Stinger arrives in Australia later in the year, the turbo V6 is expected to generate slightly more power thanks to tweaks to its bi-modal exhaust.

Following on from model-grade changes in mid-2019, the mild mid-life Stinger update will bring equipment and design tweaks, but it's not clear how these will manifest or whether there will be any changes to pricing, which currently sits between $47,000 and $65,000.

Reports that the Kia Stinger's 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine (182kW/353Nm) would be replaced by a bigger 2.5-litre turbo-petrol powerplant (225kW/420Nm) also used in the Genesis G80 appear unfounded – at least for Australia.

That engine may make it way into Kia Stinger cars sold in other global markets such as North America.

Local sales of the Stinger are skewed very heavily towards the 3.3-litre models, with only two per cent of buyers opting for 2.0-litre variants.

So the decision to stick with the four-cylinder turbo engine would appear to be a marketing decision for Kia, given their low percentage of sales.

Kia had high hopes the Stinger would find thousands of former Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon buyers keen on a high-performance rear-drive sedan and, while sales have been steady, they haven't sky-rocketed.

Kia Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith previously stated that Aussies are out of love with rear-drive vehicles and cited data that shows most new-car buyers today choose vehicles for the way they look, not how they perform.

Stay tuned for more details on the upgraded 2021 Kia Stinger.