Yahoo Autos It’s Official: A Kia Sorento Diesel Is Happening in the U.S. [Update: No, It's Not]
UPDATE 10/1/18: A Kia representative told C/D that the Sorento diesel is dead in the water for the U.S. market. Kia will not bring a diesel version here, citing logistical challenges such as establishing a service and maintenance network among its U.S. dealers for what would have been a low-volume product. This means that all of the plans detailed below have now been scrapped; we've also reached out to Hyundai to find out what this means for the related Hyundai Santa Fe, which had also promised to eventually offer a diesel variant in the States.
The void in the U.S. diesel passenger-car market left by Volkswagen’s abrupt exit is becoming less and less of an empty space as Chevrolet, Jaguar, and others attempt to gain a foothold in this niche. Kia will be the next entrant with a diesel-powered version of the Sorento crossover, which is slated to go on sale in the United States by the beginning of 2019.
Orth Hedrick, Kia’s vice president of product planning, confirmed at the Detroit auto show that the company is working with the EPA to get the Sorento diesel certified and ready for sale. He noted that the government agency is stricter than ever about emissions certification, which slows down the overall process, but claimed that the Sorento diesel is getting closer to U.S. sales starting by the end of 2018 at the earliest.
Kia isn’t saying at this point which diesel engine will come to America, but the obvious candidate is the turbo-diesel 2.2-liter inline-four it offers in the Sorento in Europe. That engine makes 197 horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque, which would place it neatly in between the power outputs of the current Sorento’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder and 3.3-liter V-6 engine options. Hedrick mentioned impressive targets of around 30 mpg or higher for highway driving and noted that towing capacity will be an important factor for the diesel version (the current Sorento can tow up to 5000 pounds in V-6 form).
Stay tuned for more information from Kia about its first foray into diesels in the United States as we learn more about this compression-ignition Sorento.
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