Comments by "Stephen Hendricks" (@stephenhendricks103) on "Sarah -n- Tuned"
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The mainstream midsize SUV/CUV category is huge. Most brands offer two vehicles in the category: a group of smaller mostly 2 row vehicles ranging from 189" to 192" in length and a group of larger 3 row vehicles from 195" to 204" long. The groups apply to nearly all vehicles in the overall category but there are a couple of exceptions. The 189" long KIA Sorento provides three rows of seats and the VW Atlas Cross Sport is by far the largest of the two row group at 195.5" in length.
If there's one lesson VW has learned about North American consumers it's that they like their VW's BIGGER (and usually less expensive) than European (and most other international) buyers. The Atlas replaced the smaller and more expensive Touareg in the US while a new generation Touareg is offered in Europe. The American Passat is considerably larger and cheaper than the European version. The current Tiguan in the US replaced the first generation smaller and pricier version. In fact, at 185" long it (along with the Nissan Rogue) is the largest "compact" crossover sold in the US. The smaller version is still sold in Europe and the US version of the Tiguan is known as the AllSpace in other markets and usually considered a midsize SUV. The current generation Jetta is larger than the last and isn't even offered in VW's home market in Germany. And when VW decided to offer a two row midsize SUV in the US they made the Atlas Cross Sport larger than any competitor. It's even a smidgen longer than the 195" long Toyota Highlander. And much like it's 3 row Atlas big brother, it's built in Tennessee and almost exclusively offered in North America. With VW's decision to drop the basic Golf in the US, that leaves only the GTI, Golf R, and the Arteon as US vehicles that closely resemble their European counterparts.
American consumers who prefer the size, handling, and performance of European VW's have been left largely out of picture. As far as VW is concerned, those consumers should be looking at Audi vehicles. That's a shame (imo) but VW, like other mainstream brands, is devoted to making a profit and the sales of vehicles like their SUV's and the Jetta compact sedan are a strong argument for their strategy. Whether it works in the case of the Cross Sport will be evident in the next year, or so.
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I live in the Seattle/Tacoma metro area. Around the Puget Sound the broad demographic appeal of the Soul is striking. I see twenty-something Seattle hipsters, young couples with a kid or two, and senior citizens driving them. My local KIA dealer says, "They sell themselves." It's not surprising to see KIA expand the line in the 2020 model year.
Sarah's correct that the GTLine version doesn't really fit in the "hot hatch" category. And despite KIA's marketing effort to classify at least one version of the Soul as a crossover, it's not really that either. What it is, though, is a remarkably balanced, highly versatile vehicle with remarkably wide appeal. Total cargo space is 62.1 cubic ft. That's more than a Mazda CX-5, a vehicle that's more than a foot longer than the Soul (!). And because of its boxy shape full size human beings, even those as tall as Sarah, can sit comfortably in the back seat. As for performance, Motor Trend reports a 0-60 time of 6.5 seconds in the GT-Line turbo Soul. That puts it near the top of so-called "sub-compact SUV" mainstream category, otherwise known as hatchbacks on stilts.
Of course, there will be complaints that KIA didn't add AWD to the new generation of the Soul. But in a small, light vehicle with engine weight over the drive wheels a FWD vehicle with a good set of winter tires will accomplish everything an AWD vehicle can over 90% of the time. And KIA says when they asked potential Soul owners if AWD was a priority it ranked far behind fuel efficiency and interior space. In fact, about 25% of current owners thought their Souls already had AWD!
I sometimes wonder what Honda and Nissan must think of the Soul after they discontinued the Element and the Cube, its only true competitors. No doubt they wonder what it is about rodents that make them such great salesman. Or perhaps they should have stayed with their vehicles a while longer.
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A more(or less) powerful engine in the Telluride? Ain't happenin'. At least it's very unlikely in the foreseeable future for several reasons.
First, the Telluride (and Palisade) has a Hyundai Lambda 2 3.8L NA engine lifted from the Genesis line-up. They are VERY unlikely to do anything that's likely to cannibalize sales of the forthcoming Genesis SUV that will undoubtedly have a large displacement turbo V6. Hyundai already faces major challenges in developing the Genesis brand. They certainly aren't going to add to those challenges. Well then, what about the 3.3L turbo from the Stinger/G70? One of the few weaknesses of the KIA and Hyundai product lines has always been fuel economy. The Telluride/Palisade have an engine that runs the Atkinson cycle, a design that sacrifices some performance in return for better mpg's. The result is an EPA rating essentially identical to the smaller 3.3L NA engine in the KIA Sorento. Considering that scalding performance ranks about 25th among the top 10 priorities of midsize 3 row SUV buyers, KIA is very unlikely to negatively impact their overall corporate CAFE scores with a model that will return a minuscule number of sales. Furthermore, KIA is already selling Tellurides faster than they can build them. There are no magic wands that enable a manufacturer to create additional production out of thin air. If you were a KIA decision maker would you divert production from vehicles that already have buyers with deposits to build vehicles that are unlikely to appeal to many buyers?
Finally, and perhaps most important, KIA's business model aims to produce vehicles that hit a sweet spot among shoppers with fewer add on options than their rivals. It's a recipe designed to contain the cost of production. Not only does the Telluride offer only one engine option, it's worth noting that KIA offers fewer color combinations (exterior and interior) in their top trim SX than in lower trims. Further, very few individual options are offered at any trim level. Instead, trim levels carry the bulk of differences and within trims only one or two option packages are offered. Compared to European and American brands where vehicles can be customized to result in literally hundreds of configurations, KIA offers only a few.
The effect is to reduce the cost of production across all versions of a particular vehicle. A single production line is less costly than two smaller production lines with the same output. Many of a vehicles components come from third party suppliers. Larger orders from those suppliers give KIA (and Hyundai) an advantage in terms of volume purchases. And by limiting the number of configurations KIA reduces the likelihood that a less popular version of a vehicle will sit for an extended period on a dealer lot, a situation that dealers (who pay daily flooring charges for unsold vehicles) hate.
All in all KIA has been transformed from a manufacturer of "cheap" vehicles to a brand that offers highly competitive vehicles with extensive options at a price other brands find difficult to match. There are reasons for that.
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