Kia Motors’ representative sports utility vehicle (SUV) Sorento is about to break through the record-highest annual sales volume in the domestic market thanks to the popularity of hybrid models.
According to the industry on the 25th, Sorento sold 76,892 units in the domestic market from January to November this year.
Considering that Sorento’s monthly average sales this year is 6,990 units, the annual sales volume is expected to exceed 80,000 units, the highest ever.
Sorento, which debuted in 2002, has a record-high annual sales of 8,715 units in 2016.
The cumulative contract volume of Sorento this year has already exceeded 100,000 units in the middle of this month, reaching a record high.
This seems to be because the popularity of SUVs is high due to the recent’car + lodging’ fever, and the Sorento hybrid model is gaining popularity as interest in eco-friendly cars is growing.
The contract for the Sorento hybrid model is 37,000 units, more than 35% of the total contract.
Sorento Hybrid received a pre-contract last February, but it did not meet the government’s environmentally friendly certification standards, so it stopped selling and resumed the contract in early July.
The average monthly contract volume for 5 months from the resumption of the contract is about 4,600 units.
This high proportion of contracts also leads to sales volume.
From January to November this year, the sales volume of Sorento Hybrid was 21,246 units (27.6%), and more than one of the four Sorento units sold was a hybrid model.
In the case of the Grandeur Hybrid (35,634 units from January to November), the most-selling hybrid vehicle in Korea, 26.1% of the total sales of the Grandeur is.
This means that the Sorento hybrid model has a higher proportion of sales.
An official from Kia Motors explained, “The 4th generation Sorento has the only hybrid lineup of domestic mid-sized SUVs, and its popularity is that it has the best-in-class interior space and the latest convenience and safety specifications.”
Although excluded from the eco-friendly car tax benefit, the Sorento Hybrid has a combined fuel economy of 15.3km/ℓ (5 passengers, 17-inch wheels, 2WD standard), and has a high fuel economy comparable to that of a compact car.
Smartstream turbo hybrid engine is applied to demonstrate the power of the system’s maximum output of 230 horsepower and the system’s maximum torque of 35.7 kgf·m.
The advantage of Sorento is that it is a family SUV that is suitable for the recent trend of’automobile’.
The 4th generation Sorento is the first Korean mid-sized SUV to include a 6-seater, 2-row independent seat, which enhances the ride comfort of passengers in the second row, as an option, and applies a two-row one-touch walk-in and folding function, which is useful when there is a lot of cargo or when you are driving.
Depending on the choice, the seat layout can be configured in various ways, with 5 to 7 seats.
Sorento, which applied the fourth-generation platform with improved collision safety, adopted the’multi-collision avoidance automatic braking system’ for the first time among Hyundai Motor Group vehicles.
It is a system that prevents the second accident by automatically braking the vehicle when the driver cannot control the vehicle after the first accident occurs.
In addition,’Kia Pay’ was included for the first time among Kia Motors, and convenience specifications such as remote smart parking assistance were also applied.
/yunhap news