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2018 Kia Stinger GT Drivers' Notes Review | Punching above its weight

The 2018 Kia Stinger GT is a breath of fresh air in the Korean automaker's lineup. After years of building cheap and mostly forgettable appliances, Kia (and Hyundai) finally started to build truly solid products that no longer needed to be marketed as just a value proposition. Once the company finally got reliability, build quality and styling down, it really needed to focus on performance if it had any plans to be a fully-rounded automaker. Hyundai is doing very much the same thing with cars like the new Veloster N. On paper, we should be comparing the Stinger GT to cars like the Dodge Charger. Size, pricing and power are all about the same, but that's not really where we're at. Kia is talking more about cars like the Audi A5, BMW 3 Series and other luxury sedans — and that's how we're seeing it too. It shows just where Kia is aiming with this car. The car we have this week is the base GT, the lowest-spec model available with the 365 horsepower twin-turbo V6. This is the same engine that's available in the Genesis G80 Sport. While the GT1 trim doesn't get things like a moonroof or a 720-watt stereo system, it's still pretty well-equipped. You get heated leather seats, power front seats, a touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, keyless entry and dual-zone climate control. Performance upgrades include Brembo brakes and 19-inch wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires (our car was wearing all-seasons thanks to old man winter). Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale: Ever since I attended the Stinger's debut in Detroit last year, I've been eager to drive one. On paper, it sounds bang on. It has aggressive, muscular styling inside and out, is only available in rear- or all-wheel-drive, and has a pair of potent turbo engines, either a 255-horsepower four-cylinder or a 365-horsepower V6. Finally, this past week, I had the chance to drive a rear-drive GT with the twin-turbo V6, and it absolutely lived up to expectations. One of the first things that delighted me was the steering and handling. The helm is very quick and accurate, and the chassis feels light, communicative, and easy to manage. This was particularly helpful since, although I drove it on the one warm day in Detroit this winter, it was still wet and slippery outside. The engine is a charmer, too.

Kia's promised "four-door coupe" Cub concept... isn't

Kia appears to have pulled a quick one on the world with its Cub Concept. As it turns out, the machine isn't the four-door coupe they promised at all. Instead, the little showcar is a five-door hatch with suicide rear doors. That's certainly fine by our reckoning, but it isn't quite what we were expecting to see on display at the Seoul Motor Show. The concept was penned at the company's design studio in Seoul with direction from Peter Schreyer, and it gets its thrust from a 204-horsepower, 1.6-liter direct-injection four-cylinder engine. With 195 pound-feet of torque on hand, we suspect the Cub would have little trouble hustling down the road.
Indoors, the Cub serves up black leather seats with yellow accents as well as a new Driving Information System that uses a gesture camera to control various operations. Right now, there are apparently no plans to put the Cub into production anywhere in the world, but we wouldn't be surprised to see some of the hatchback's elements make their way to the show room floor.

Hyundai, Kia ratchet up fleet sales as retail transactions slide

Automotive News reports both Hyundai and Kia have stepped up fleet sales in an attempt to offset disappointing first quarter results. The Korean automakers saw their sales decline by nine percent compared to last year, while all major competitors managed to increase their sales. That situation marks an inversion of two years ago, when both gained ground after Japanese rivals suffered production and inventory shortages after the country's earthquake and tsunami tragedies.
Now, Hyundai can't come up with enough volume models in popular trim configurations to satisfy buyers, and lower-volume models are also in a snag. At the moment, Hyundai can only build 20-30 percent of Veloster hatchbacks with turbocharged engines while the US market would apparently support closer to 70 percent.
In order to reverse the sales slide, Hyundai and Kia have stepped up fleet sales of the vehicles they do have by some 50 percent, ringing up a total of 42,400 units in the first quarter. By contrast, Automotive News reports the seven largest automakers increased retail volume by seven percent and fleet sales by four percent as a group.