Kia Motors launches gasoline-powered Stonic in Korea

Kia Motors on Thursday began sales of the gasoline-powered Stonic in the Korean market in an attempt to counter its sales decline here and abroad.

The price of the gasoline Stonic has been set at between 17 million won ($16,000) and 20 million won, 2.4 million won lower than the 1.6-liter diesel Stonic launched in July, according to the company. The gasoline version of the Stonic is also around 1.5 million won cheaper than other small SUV models here. 

Kia Motors expressed hope that the gasoline model would boost sales.

The combined sales of Kia Motors declined by 6.6 percent on-year to 2.24 million units between January and October, from 2.4 million vehicles in the same period last year.

Kia’s sales in China plunged 48 percent to 255,182 vehicles from 493,695 units a year earlier. In the US, its sales fell 7.1 percent to 502,327 from 540,741 in the same period.

Kia Motors’ gasoline Stonic is now available in Korea and Europe, but there are no plans to launch the gasoline Stonic in the US and China, the company said.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)