The Kia Stinger isn't dead – at least not yet

The rumor mill for the Kia Stinger has been churning lately, and many sources are quick to decipher that the South Korean brand may not consider a full-fledged sequel for its halo Stinger and that the four-door fastback will only get a facelift in the future. 

While there is truth to the news, the Kia Stinger’s future is just undecided as of now. Kia has neither confirmed nor denied the plans for the model yet, and the decision remains up in the air. The indecision coupled with the current economic downturn resulted in some assumptions that Kia wasn’t going to update its halo car. 

The nameplate isn’t getting canceled just yet, instead, it is in a sort of limbo or a Schrodinger’s Cat type of deal. Until Kia actually mentions what will happen to the Stinger, the key assumption is that we don’t know until we get to see it ourselves. AutoDaum spoke to CarBuzz regarding a statement made by an anonymous Kia official who stated that “The release of the second-generation Stinger has not been decided yet. We plan to focus on preparing for the partial change model launch in the second half of this year." This statement signals the certainty of a facelifted model, which is reported to be in testing already. 

As for the future, the same anonymous official also stated that “The Stinger discontinuation is not only groundless at all, but also ridiculous fake news.” It’s no new model announcement, but it is certainly something that sparks a bit of hope for fans of the fastback. Though, without a name or a definite source, we can’t count too much on the credibility of this statement, though it’s free to hope. 

In an interview with BBC Top Gear, Karim Habib, the current head of design for Kia, made a few interesting statements that ‘sparks’ more hope – there’s a pun coming. 

So is he alluding to an EV version of the Stinger? Quite possibly. There is potential in electrification for the rest of the world. Though he stated prior, “I definitely hope that the spirit of the Stinger stays at the core of what Kia is as we change as a brand.” Breaking down his statement, and word choice, ‘spirit’ could mean that the Stinger will no longer be a part of the brand perhaps, or he is referring to the general idea of a halo car wherein its spirit is imparted and felt throughout the rest of the lineup, like what the R8 did to the rest of Audi’s line or the halo Mercedes-Benz AMG car, the GT R. 

These statements spark hope – pun intended, but they also take away that hope a bit. As we said, it’s not definite at the moment, but Kia sure is stringing us along. Talk about news that could sting. 

Source: Top Gear, CarBuzz, Motor1