Another week, another design study into just what Kia's incoming ute could look alike, this time as a Stinger-based super ute that would put a scare through a GR-badged Toyota HiLux.
This Stinger ute was cooked up by Sugar Design, and it's a single-cab beastie it has named the "Sports Truck".
Sadly, there's nothing official about this picture, but we can dream, right? Because a Stinger-based truck would mean a thumping twin-turbo V6 that pushes out 272kW and 510Nm. And that's in the Stinger's current guise, with International reports suggesting Kia's performance vehicle could be in line for even more grunt, courtesy of a bigger 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 that could up the numbers to 279kW and 530Nm.
That said, a Stinger-based truck is hugely unlikely. Both Kia and Hyundai will have a dual-cab ute in Australia as early as 2022, and work on the vehicle has officially begun, but it will be a proper workhorse, rather than a perfromance-focused beastie.
"Work has begun,” says Kia's COO Damien Meredith. “We’re talking about a dual-cab, a single-cab – what we’ve requested is the full gambit for the ute, and that (includes) a dual-cab with diesel and petrol options."
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Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold.
But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul.
And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard.
When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House.
But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others.
More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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