DETROIT – Kia goes big and small at the North American International Auto show here.
Its refreshed Forte compact sedan and 5-door models take the stage, followed by a hefty upscale CUV that could come to market with assorted features ranging from fingerprint ignition start/stop and second-row seats that nearly fold flat.
The vehicle is dubbed the Telluride, after the Colorado ski-resort town. Judging from the ring of journalists and photographers around the Telluride after its auto show debut, it upstages the production-car Fortes sitting nearby.
At the show, WardsAuto talks about Kia’s present and future with Michael Sprague, chief operating officer of the South Korean automaker’s U.S. unit.
WardsAuto: The Telluride is a cool concept, and let’s talk about that in a moment, but the Forte is a car in production. So let’s talk about that first. Who is buying the Forte these days? Is it a younger buyer, an entry-level buyer?
Sprague: The demographic is large. It is the second-largest segment in the industry. So that means a lot of people coming from a lot of different places.
We’ve seen people who were in the Rio segment (subcompact) moving up to the larger Forte, particularly with gasoline prices being down.
We’ve seen some people coming from the Optima (midsize sedan) to the Forte, but also people moving up from the Forte to the Optima.
Then there are new people coming in to the market and people who haven’t been in it for a long time.
And there is a difference between the Forte 5-door and sedan, with the 5-door appealing to – I don’t want to say a much-younger consumer – but a younger mind set. The sedan is a more traditional car.
WardsAuto: The Forte has been imported to the U.S. from South Korea, but now it also will be made in a new plant in Monterrey, Mexico. How will that affect things?
Sprague: They are in the testing phase. In the early summer they will start production. Some Fortes still will come from Korea. The majority will come from Mexico.
WardsAuto: You mentioned U.S. sales of 79,000 Fortes last year. With the new plant, do you have a 100,000 unit target?
Sprague: Our targets are always increasing and the industry is forecasted to go up next year. We had our best year ever in 2015 with 625,000 vehicle sales in the U.S. We’ve got a new Optima and new Sportage this year in addition to the Forte. We’ve got a dedicated hybrid coming. So with the industry growing and with the momentum we have behind our brand, we expect things to grow for Kia.
WardsAuto: And during your presentation you mentioned doing that without trucks, although arguably you have trucks in your lineup with cross/utility vehicles and SUVs.
Sprague: When I mentioned trucks, I was looking at that GMC fullsize pickup there and that Ford F-150 over there. We don’t have something like that.
WardsAuto: So talk about the Telluride.
Sprague: It is a great indication of what’s to come. When we introduce these concepts, generally they come into the market within a couple of years, usually looking pretty close to the concepts.
WardsAuto: Some of the stuff highlighted on the Telluride video is pretty wild, like therapeutic lighting and seat sensors providing IP-displayed health information of the person sitting in the car. But in terms of the size and the segment – a big 3-row premium CUV – that seems new-direction for Kia.
Sprague: That’s where we see opportunity. We’ve got the Rio, the Soul, the minivan, cars, now luxury with the Cadenza and the K-900.
We look at the stakes and we look at what our customers are telling us. Dealers tell us their customers say they like what they have, but their second or third vehicle is a big SUV.
