Kia Quoris

The most natural sign of having achieved success a company can express is to start expanding its operations. Whether by creating more products, entering new markets or increasing the production, the intention is always to explore that growing acceptance, hoping that when it becomes stable again it’ll land on a higher level than the previous. That’s what Hyundai and Kia have been doing in the last years, which is working very well among small and medium categories. But how would they do when expanding to luxury cars?

High-end vehicles compose an attractive market because their prices bring equally expressive profit margins. In other words, it takes less sold vehicles to make money. However, such situation isn’t too easy to have because this is a very tough public to please. Offering the longest possible comfort and safety equipment list is only the initial rule: the car needs a particular “edge”, something that makes customers prefer to buy that one instead of any others. At first, it was believed the only effective advantage would be a solid tradition, such as most English, German and North-American automakers’.

However, the last years have showed this market can accept newcomers, if their edge is interesting enough. That’s what Volvo achieved with the current S60 and Maserati is expected to do with Ghibli on their respective categories, for instance. Hyundai and Kia’s global strategy became directing the first one to upscale, more conservative buyers while the second focuses on the younger and more casual public. When these concepts are taken to luxury vehicles, the only suitable concept for Hyundai was to offer precisely what is seen on Genesis and Equus: the traditional recipe of pairing cutting-edge technology to classic designs.

Such models would be enough to compete until in the 1980s or in the 1990s, but today’s market still has room for another particular new segment, which became successful only a few years ago. And since Kia still didn’t have a luxury vehicle of its own, what would be better for this group to leave to the sporty division its very first four-door coupe? Looking at the pictures reveal that Quoris manages to look classier than Cadenza but without resembling limousines. This is what helps it to stay away specially from Equus, with which it shares its platform.

Kia’s signature tiger-inspired front grille is paired to futuristic LED-based headlights, and leads to very imponent sides with just the right amount of chrome accents – applying too many of them would take the attentions off of the gorgeous roofline, whose smooth lines create plenty head space for the cabin and end on a short rear. Not so short as Mercedes-Benz CLS’s or abrupt as Audi A7’s, but elegant in its own way. But Kia was more cautious on the rear fascia, which connects those good-looking lights with that classic chrome line which is one of the most typical elements used when the intention is to project a conservative-looking sedan.

Also called K9 in some markets (hopefully none that speaks English), Quoris keeps giving a good impression at the inside. The console gets interesting because it manages to use the typical classy elements while avoiding to resemble other cars’ cabins too much. The horizontal design makes the entire room look wider, and even though it doesn’t use continuous lines, like Chevrolets’, the visual connection is created by an excellent taste with the coating’s two tones. There will be all the current electronic systems, working for comfort, entertainment and safety through names like Smart Cruise Control, 17-speaker Lexicon sound system and 360° cameras.

On the other hand, what really surprises is the fact that Quoris became Kia’s very first rear-wheel-drive sedan. The intention was enabling it both to be calmly driven by a chauffeur and to please the wealthy owner when it wants to take the wheel itself. There isn’t many information concerning the powertrain so far, but it’s already known that an eight-speed automatic transmission will be offered as standard. It’s expected to be paired with the Lambda 290-hp 3.8L V6 unit and the GDI 334-hp 3.8L, depending on the market.

Lançamento no Brasil (22/01/2015)

Três anos são um atraso expressivo, mas neste caso não se pode culpar a Kia. Os coreanos mostraram seu topo-de-linha no Brasil durante o Salão do Automóvel do mesmo ano em que foi lançado no exterior, 2012. Porém, como o IPI para carros importados aumentou bruscamente, o fabricante precisou rever seus planos quase que por completo. Hoje, o Quoris vem da Coreia do Sul por R$ 249.900, com um conjunto digno de seduzir quem até então se decidia entre Audi A6, BMW Série 5 e Mercedes-Benz Classe E. Ele traz motor 3.8 V6 de 284 cv, câmbio automático de oito marchas, garantia de cinco anos, e uma lista de itens de série que inclui ar-condicionado de três zonas, bancos elétricos com 16 memórias, telas de 9,2” para o banco traseiro, e farois adaptativos.