Kia Sportage 2015 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.

An engineering update to fix an embarrassing four-star crash-test result for Hyundai’s Tucson SUV has been rushed into production.

Australia is leading the Kia world on cornering.

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.

New Honda Jazz sets new benchmark for rear view cameras: $14,990.

Kia has updated its stylish Sportage small/medium SUV range, launching the Series II model 2.5 years into the current generation’s model life. The Series II sees Australian-spec Sportages now sourced from Kia’s Slovakian factory, unlike previous Korean-built versions. Kia Australia’s COO Tony Barlow explains the shift to European manufacture as curing the previous Australian-market supply shortages for the Sportage. “The opportunity to have consistent supply by taking production from Europe makes perfect sense and will benefit customers and dealers alike.” The previous Si, SLi, and Platinum spec levels continue with Series II, and benefit from range-wide subtle revisions, including Series II badging, HID headlamps, static cornering lamps, taillight-integrated rear foglamps, de-icing windscreen wipers, and a reprofiled lower rear bumper. On the inside, trim materials have been revised, with partial leather added to Si and SLi variants, and a new stitch pattern and colour for the leather-clad Platinum. A central locking button is now located on both driver and passenger door trims, along with a now-lockable glovebox, digital clock added to the audio display,  Active ECO button on diesels for the first time, and the A/C now has seven distinct ventilation modes. The 122kW/197Nm 2.0 litre petrol engine is now available on all models, and the 135kW/392Nm 2.0 litre turbodiesel remains available on SLi and Platinum variants. The previous 130kW/227Nm 2.4 litre petrol option has been discontinued. The Si continues to be available in two-wheel-drive only, as with the all-wheel-drive only SLi and Platinum grades. The Si also remains available in either 5-speed manual or ($2000 optional) 6-speed auto, while the SLi and Platinum are 6-speed auto only. List prices have dropped on all Sportage variants, with the manual SI now starting at $25,490 (plus $2000 for auto), representing a $1500 saving on the outgoing model. The petrol SLi is now priced at $31,990 (down $1000), and the petrol Platinum is now $36,490 (down $1500). The 2.0 litre diesel/6-speed auto drivetrain is available on SLi and Platinum models for an extra $3,500 (up $500), but their $35,490 and $39,990 list prices are down $500 and $1000 respectively. Satnav remains a $1500 option on SLi models (standard on Platinum), and metallic paint costs a further $520 on all variants. This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn