It won't get better soon. Kia is selling into a white hot market for 3 row mid-size SUVs, and it's still in 9th place among mass-market targeted vehicles. Kia just can't manufacture enough of them to meet demand. They also have an allocation process that rewards the high volume dealers who have markups.
Based on average monthly sales, here's the order...
(1) Highlander
(2) Explorer*
(3) Traverse*
(4) Pilot
(5) Acadia*
(6) Atlas
(7) Ascent
(8) Durango*
(9) Telluride
(10) Pathfinder
(11)
Palisade
(12) CX-9
Have to keep in mind that individually, K and H don't have the production capacity that the Japanese Big 3 each have and so it takes both of them to match one of the larger Japanese makes and even then, the Big 3 can produce a lot more RAVs, CR-Vs and Rogues/Rogue Sports than H and K can the
Sportage and Tucson.
Last month, combined Telluride and
Palisade sales were 12,092.
The Pilot did 10,260, so not bad at all (there's a bit of a differentiation in markets btwn imports and domestics).
Of course, Toyota can crank out Highlanders, so even if H/K had more production capacity, would be difficult to beat Toyota.
Things will calm down. Something will be hot next year. KIA didn't ex
Things will get better! When, don't know but hopefully not as long as you have suggested. MotorTrend SUV of The Year has really added gas to the fire. In other news-Huge Soprano fan here. Friend of mines father was head of security for the set in NYC. Got to tour. Laid down in Tony's bed and kicked my feet up in his recliner. It was epic!
Also, C/D's 10Best list and Best CUV for Edmunds, among others.
While (spoiler alert!), the Telluride didn't quite win this 3-row comparison test (Cars.com)...
This video (towards the end) shows not only how much better the Telluride and
Palisade are than the competition, but how much of a value they are (the MSRP could be raised by a few thousand and they still would be a value compared to the competition), so even if things do
cool down next year, think it would be more like a greater # of dealerships charging MSRP or lowering the amount that they are asking above sticker.
The only new/redone competitor slated for the next year is the Highlander and it doesn't look as good as the Koreans, nor does it match them w/ regard to the interior (it'll still sell extremely well as the outgoing Highlander, but don't think it'll have too much of an impact on prospective buyers who are looking strongly at the Koreans).
One note about the Cars.com comparison test - the Korean duo had the best observed fuel economy (unless using some sort of electrification, still no substitute for displacement).
Yes, that is the problem. I posted this back in May, but worth reading again. Kia should know better... this article was from Sep 2017, two years later nothing different.
Kia has now officially taken a serious shot at the usual European sports sedans with the
Stinger GT. According to the reviews, the new
Stinger is pretty impressive, but to truly make a dent in luxury market, Kia needs to look beyond the cars and fix their dealerships, which, for the most part...
jalopnik.com
While Kia needs to kick in the pants the more shady dealerships, there's really nothing shady about dealerships charging more than MSRP where demand outpaces supply.
Honda dealerships have done this for the CTR.
Ford dealerships for the GT and top performance variants of the Mustang.
And so on and so on.
W/ regard to the
Stinger, it sells about as well as the 4 Series GC and A5 Sportback.
The biggest impediment to greater sales are the lease terms (cheaper to get into a BMW or MB) and the base engine could use an upgrade (which is coming).
