OREANDA-NEWS. Avtotor plant in Kaliningrad started production of the updated KIA Sorento Prime crossover. The vehicle is manufactured with SKD method and is equipped with 3.5-liter V6 MPI (249 hp) or 2.4-liter GDI (188 hp) petrol engine, as well as 2.2-liter CRDI (200 hp) diesel engine. The KIA Sorento Prime is equipped with a modernized 6-speed or a new 8-speed automatic transmission, KIA Motors Rus press service informs.

The vehicle will be launched in the Russian market in February 2018. At the same time, the dealers will start sales of the GT-Line sport version, which will have both design and technical differences from the base version. The details about the packages and prices will be available nearer to the market launch. In 2017, the flagship crossover was bought by 5,932 customers in Russia. So, KIA managed to strengthen its position in the D-SUV segment of medium-sized crossovers in the Russian market considerably. If in 2015, the share of the Sorento Prime in the D-SUV segment was only 0.7%, in 2017, it increased more than 7 times up to 5.2%.

The launch of the updated KIA SorentoPrime will not affect the production program of the second generation Kia Sorento, which is produced with CKD method at Avtotor. The Kaliningrad plant manufactures 11 models of KIA passenger cars, crossovers and SUVs: the cee'd, the Cerato, the Mohave, the Optima, the Picanto, the Quoris, the Sorento, the Sorento Prime, the Soul, the Sportage, the Stinger.