Kia Stinger Declining Sales

[eflyguy]

There have been cases where cars imported illegally were seized by CBP, even though they were sold by "reputable" dealers. Has to do with foreign vehicles not meeting US safety and emissions (even though they technically may, they haven't been certified as such.)

It's also why the Korean-market Stingers you saw in US dealerships were not allowed to be driven, and had to be destroyed. When I saw my first Stinger, I found a letter from the government in the glove box approving display only for them, settings terms on how far they could be moved under their own power. and listing each VIN.

 

[scar_007]

I don't think it was imported illegally, as the dealership would be in a world of hurt for that. But to be safe, the next time I go to Canada, I should probably not drive my Stinger.

They can take it from me, but they will have to pry my cold dead hands from the steering wheel..

 

[eflyguy]

They weren't at the border - they came to owners homes and took them. It was years later, iirc. The importer was simply ignorant of the law.

I want to say it was the Nissan Skyline.

Edit - here you go: Feds Seize Illegal Nissan Skyline GT-Rs In Cali

It wasn't limited to just those. Also seen it for other more recent vehicles, like some diesels from Europe.

 

[SomeBlondeGuy]

Apparently a Canadian dealership wanted to unload about 5 of them and my local dealership picked them up. Not sure on all the details, but after the fact I was told that Kia frowned on this. It has made servicing a bit difficult as I have to use a third party warranty company or else take it to Canada. I recently had to get the radio replaced (due to volume fading to back seats), the local dealership did not even have the Canadian radio part number in their system.

In the end, I'm thrilled with the car, no matter where it came from...

I had that volume fading issue, which I mentioned to the dealer several times, and had no success in getting them to fix it.
They hadn't heard of the issue from any other Stinger owner.
A few weeks ago I updated my car's Nav/Media system and the fading issue has disappeared.

Do your gauges being primarily in km/h make it harder for you to observe your speed?

 

[Flameangel]

They weren't at the border - they came to owners homes and took them. It was years later, iirc. The importer was simply ignorant of the law.

I want to say it was the Nissan Skyline.

Edit - here you go: Feds Seize Illegal Nissan Skyline GT-Rs In Cali

It wasn't limited to just those. Also seen it for other more recent vehicles, like some diesels from Europe.

That's awful, and the owners had to suffer. They would have to arrest me because if they tried to take my Stinger I would be lying spread eagled across the bonnet hanging on for dear life.

 

[scar_007]

I had that volume fading issue, which I mentioned to the dealer several times, and had no success in getting them to fix it.
They hadn't heard of the issue from any other Stinger owner.
A few weeks ago I updated my car's Nav/Media system and the fading issue has disappeared.

Do your gauges being primarily in km/h make it harder for you to observe your speed?

My dealer also was not aware of the radio issue, but I brought in the paper work on the Kia service bulletin and they replaced it: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10155380-0002.pdf

My gauges are in MPH so no issues there.

 

[YEH]

So the Stinger market in the non-Korean markets is....under advertised, limited, not known? However, I enlisted my Korean buddy to help me search for what the ROK is doing with the Stinger, and it’s staggering. The Korean’s are not posting their content for the world to see, just their market. This car is not going away, production wise, from what I’ve seen on their home market. There is a massive following in their country, which almost makes me think that we (non-ROK) are an after thought.

Actually, the US market is by far the largest market for the Stinger and Canada, Australia and Germany are relatively strong (based on their pop.) in relation to sales of the G70.

Otoh, Korean market for the Stinger isn't as good relative to the G70 (which outsells by 3-4x) and even the K9/K900, which is priced substantially higher, outsells the Stinger by a good margin.

Low Korean sales is the biggest impediment to the Stinger seeing a 2nd gen (of course, improved US sales would also help).

But while sales have declined in its 2nd year, it's still nothing like the decline in sales for the LS 500.

 

[BTA]

I said import. Plus many Kia models share parts.

Scar 007
Is it cool on this forum to listall of one’s previously owned vehicles. The Stinger is my 58th new car. It would kinda hard to fit them all in here.
But I did trade an 18 GTi Autobahn for the Stinger and I had 3 Mini’s and a TT Quattro, just saying.

 

[scar_007]

I said import. Plus many Kia models share parts.

Scar 007
Is it cool on this forum to listall of one’s previously owned vehicles. The Stinger is my 58th new car. It would kinda hard to fit them all in here.
But I did trade an 18 GTi AutobahnView attachment 38432 for the Stinger and I had 3 Mini’s and a TT Quattro, just saying.

Not sure, those are all my current cars.. I've seen other have a listing of current cars or mods to existing..

 

[Mike810]

Deleted

This is true. Both of the Lyft drivers I rode with two days ago had never heard of a "Kia Stinger" before I told them.

 

[RonNSoCal]

DK how many have seen reviews on the new electric Kia suv, but an article in motor trend claims a performance version will be out by the end of the year with 0 to 60 time in the 3.5 second range. They are arguing this will be the new halo car for Kia, not the Stinger.

 

[MerlintheMad]

They are not comparable. The Stinger will overlap and be the halo car for ICE models. I expect the Stinger to be finally discontinued in 2023 at the earliest. But I'm no prophet.

 

[RonNSoCal]

I like the new EV, but our stinger is our vacation/trip car and I am not a fan of the shorter range of EVs with the recharge times required. The EV would be a good choice for our second car, but I am not about to replace the MB SL400 any time soon because I love this car. We are having some unseasonably warm weather and today I have been driving around with the top down.

 

[Posjr408]

Bought my stinger over the weekend 2022. Sales manager said they are only receiving 2 more in April. After that it's history.

 

[westcoastGT]

Pick it up at the 8 min mark

 

[EHRD]

I found it interesting that when I spoke to my dealer about 2 weeks ago that he had total 25 Stingers on order. He said he never has sold this many as in the last 2 months. When I ordered mine in November I was number 8 on the list, so since the end of November they sold another 17 Stingers at just 1 dealership.

He is still happy to take orders as there has still been no offical comunications from Kia about stopping production and his orders are still getting accepted by the factory.