Kia Sorento 2011 News

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced its latest round of national recalls, with models from Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Kia, Land Rover and Ram impacted.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued its latest round of recalls, with models from Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia and Volvo impacted by the recent safety notices.

Kia's announcement of an Australian-first seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty could benefit buyers of others brands as they try to match it.One of Australia's fastest growing car brands, Korean company Kia, is about to upset its big name rivals by announcing a seven-year unlimited kilometre warranty, the longest in Australian automotive history. Kia’s sister brand Hyundai was the first company to offer a five-year, 130,000km warranty in Australia 15 years ago -- in 1999 -- as a response to quality concerns over a bungled safety recall the year before.Hyundai then increased its warranty coverage to five years and unlimited kilometres in 2006.RELATED: Small car price war about to heat upFrench car maker Citroen then raised the bar in March this year, offering new-car buyers an unprecedented six-year, unlimited kilometre warranty.Kia's new benchmark of a seven year, unlimited kilometre warranty will put the market leaders under increasing pressure given brands such as Toyota, Holden, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Subaru, Honda, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz only offer three years coverage. It means buyers of most mainstream brands will eventually be the winners as they try to raise their level of warranty coverage to either match or get closer to Kia's seven-year stretch. But none are yet to react.The longer warranty period will likely boost the resale value of Kia cars at trade-in time because used-car buyers will get the balance of the new-car warranty.Most new cars are sold after four years, according to industry figures. This means a typical secondhand Kia would give used car buyers three years of factory-backed protection against faults.The Kia warranty is part of the company's ambitious sales push in Australia after a decade of weak results.Kia is just outside the top 10 sellers but its sister brand Hyundai -- which sells, in effect, the same cars under the skin but with different body styles and different branding -- is in the top four.It is the largest gap between the two jointly owned companies in the world.Kia recently poached Hyundai Australia's sales and marketing boss Damien Meredith to head the Kia division locally and this is his first step towards doubling sales within four years."This is a watershed moment," said Mr Meredith. "Kia customers now have a peace of mind that can't be matched in the Australian new car market."The deal includes free roadside assistance for seven years -- if the car is serviced at a Kia dealer once a year.Kia has also extended its capped price servicing program to seven years -- one of the longest in the car business -- and that prices of routine maintenance will remain the same as before."The two year increase in warranty, capped-price servicing and roadside assist is absolutely transparent and we will not be asking our customers to dip into their pockets to fund the extra benefits," said Mr Meredith.

Hyundai invented drive-away pricing in Australia and today it's bigger than ever. The Korean company knew it needed something special to get shoppers to sign on the dotted line back in the mid-1990s, and that something was a $990 bottom line across its models with an all-in selling price that removed the fear and uncertainty from buying a new car.Driveaway dealing started as showroom bait for the baby Excel and a new generation of first-time shoppers looking for a bargain at $13,990, in an inspired move by firebrand Hyundai executive Simon Pinnock, and has spread like a virus throughout the Australian motoring landscape since then.Lots of companies now use a driveaway deal to clear their superseded stocks, or re-ignite interest in a fading favourite, or just put some punch into their showroom push. It works, and it usually works well.Right now, Kia is heavily into driveaway dealing as its shifts from 2013 to 2014 models and is even applying the all-in effort - which can save up to $2000 in on-road costs and dealer delivery at a non-luxury brand - to its new-year arrivals. You can get a Rio manual hatch for $15,990 driveaway, compared with a recommended retail sticker at $16,290 before on-roads, and the latest deals even run up to the Carnival people mover and top-end Sorento SUV.Over at Hyundai there is a similar push, not just because of the competition from Kia but because Korea's biggest carmaker intends to be a top-three success in Australia within five years. It knows that driveaway dealing gets people into showrooms and starts its efforts at the very bottom - the i20 is now $13,990 on the road - to try and create loyal buyers who gradually move up through the range.Hyundai and Kia could be accused of racing to the bottom on the price line, but Nissan is doing even sharper deals at $18,990 on-the-road as it looks to turn its all-new Pulsar models into the biggest showroom success of the year. The cars are already locked and loaded, and being rolled onto ships in Japan every month, with the driveaway deals in Australia planned to ensure they go straight to homes without spending any wasted time parked in a dealership.We're also seeing deals with the 'drive away, no more to pay' kicker line being pushed by everyone from Holden and Ford to Subaru and Toyota, even if they are short-lived or wrapped in a different package. But that's not the end of the dollar deals, as cheap finance - down to zero at some brands - is making a bigger impact.Finance deals are partly about winning customers, but also to do it in a way that does not influence the vital resale value on a car. That's because the second hand price is determined by the 'transaction price' - the dollar number as the car is actually retailed, not the showroom sticker - and that can be badly affected by heavy discounting and even driveaway pricing. Price: from $13,990 driveawayEngine: 1.4L four-cylinder, 73.5kW/136NmTransmission: 6-speed manual or 4 speed auto, FWDThirst: 5.3L/100km   Price: from $18,990 driveawayEngine: 1.8L four-cylinder, 110kW/178NmTransmission: 6-speed manual/auto, FWDThirst: 6.6L/100km   Price: from $18,990 driveawayEngine: 1.8L four-cylinder, 96kW/174NmTransmission: 6-speed manual/CVT auto, FWDThirst: 6.7L/100km   

The new Sorento has been unveiled in Korea just days after catalogue images leaked onto the web last week.The SUV has been restyled, given a complete body makeover and set off with new light clusters front and rear, LED daytime running lights, bigger 19-in alloy wheels and a revamped interior with a stronger focus on quality finishes.The cabin also gets a larger eight-inch infotainment display screen, new LCD instrument cluster and redesigned centre console.The seven-seater Kia Sorento is based on a new platform shared with stablemate Hyundai’s next Santa Fe SUV.Kia says the engine range has been updated, which means revisions to improve economy and efficiency of the current engines: a 145kW/422Nm 2.2-litre turbodiesel (6.7L/100km in the manual version), a 128kW/226Nm 2.4-litre petrol (9.2L/100km) and a 204kW/335Nm 3.5-litre V6 petrol (10L/100km).Australian specifications and prices will be confirmed closer to the new Sorento’s launch at the Australian International Motor Show in October.