Actually it started to role off line in the first week of June when Kia Motors started serial production of a freshened version of the Sportage, at its factory in Zilina, Slovakia.Kia plans plans to make 40,000 units of the Sportage SUV by year-end plus about 110,000 units of the Kia Cee’d, their latest hatchaback model. The Slovak manufactured SUVs only will be sold in western and central Europe.“We are focused on the European market. There are no plans for exports,” Kia Motors Slovakia spokesman Dusan Dvorak said. Russia will get Sportages made in Korea, the car’s other production site.
The new Sportage will have a new face. “There will be some changes in the lights, grille and mirrors,” Dvorak said. The car’s dimensions and engine selection will not change.
Kia hopes the arrival of the refreshed Sportage will reverse the SUV’s sales slump. Kia sold 36,407 Sportages in Europe last year, down 11.5 percent compared with 2005. Its sales through April are down about 10 percent to 11,249.
