Both Kia and parent company Hyundai are not averse to being extravagant. Kia already proved this with the current Sportage and Hyundai with the new Tucson. Based on the latter, the new Sportage will appear in the foreseeable future and do not think that it will suddenly become a lot more conventional. On the contrary.
Already more than ten years ago, Kia put down with the third generation of the Sportage an SUV that abruptly said goodbye to the pretty good facial features of its predecessor. The award-winning designer Peter Schreyer taking the helm of the South Korean brand’s design department paid off. This, in combination with Kia’s proven reliability, ensured that 2011 was the most successful sales year of the Sportage in the Netherlands so far. No fewer than 5,513 units were sold here at the time. A record that the current generation could not break, but this Sportage was also on the road with large numbers from 2015 for several years in a row. In the meantime, the corridor has somewhat disappeared, but fortunately the next Sportage is rapidly approaching. That will be a car that largely takes the same approach. A striking appearance with known technology underneath.
Growth
That does not mean that it will be a further development of the current Sportage. No, the brand new Hyundai Tucson, which is on a completely new platform, provides the basis for the upcoming Sportage. In any case, that means that the Korean e is growing slightly. Count on a few centimeters extra in length and also roughly one to two centimeters in width growth. All in all, the carriage extends over about 4.5 meters in length, which, as mentioned, will be another carriage that cannot be missed. As with the Hyundai Kona, for example, it looks like the upcoming Sportage will get its headlights quite low in the nose, with separate daytime running lights at the top of its muzzle. The lights flank a grille that extends the entire width of the nose. All in all, a big change in style compared to the front of the current model, but again nice and striking. At the back it is a bit more conventional. Clean-lined rear lights are optically connected with an LED strip over the tailgate, but that is also the most striking change.
Electrification
Without electrical power in the drive you hardly participate these days and the Sportage is certainly not lacking. In fact, it may even have electrical support on board by definition. A look at the range of power sources of the Hyundai Tucson tells us that a mild-hybrid 1.6 T-GDI with 150 hp and a 230 hp Sportage Hybrid can be expected to begin with. In addition to the 1.6, the latter also has a 60 hp electric motor on board and will probably be available with both front and four-wheel drive. Where the mild hybrid is probably supplied with the iMT manual gearbox, the Hybrid is equipped with a six-speed automatic transmission as standard. Extra interesting is the four-wheel drive plug-in hybrid that will certainly come from the Tucson and therefore probably also from the Sportage. It has a system power of 265 hp, with a 90 hp electric motor working together with the 1.6 T-GDI. Count on a range of more than 50 electric kilometers with a full battery. We will know more next spring, because then we expect the unveiling of the new Sportage. It may take until at least next summer before it makes its appearance at the dealers.