Update: Latest spy shots and information on the 2010 Kia Sorento.
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43 Responses to “Surprise! 2010 Kia Sorento spy shots”
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April 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
OOOOO. thank you soooo much himi. It felt like ages before this. thanks.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:54 pm
It has the KND-4′s wheelbase.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Yippy! The taillights look like the old Lincoln Navigator. And with all that stuff on the front, it could be a Pontiac Torrent. So is this the rumored unibody, FWD Sorento? A question for everyone outside of the USA: Is there any laws in your location that require yellow/ “amber” colored turn indicators on the rear of the vehicle? And also, do you have to have those indicators on the side, like on the fender by the front wheel, or integrated into the mirrors (Mercedes I think started that trend)? Just curious. That’s my one beef with the 2006.5 Optima- the taillights not having a proper signal, instead using the brake lights as their indicators.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:48 pm
what? the optima had and still has amber turing signals. any way, everything you said is permitted here. red turn signals, yello indicators, wing mirror mounted indicators, indicator by the front wheel and also the mirror integrated LED turn signals. do you think this has lens head lights which indicate Xenons? even though its becoming a crossover it still has good ground clearance for off-roading. I dont think it could be a pontiac. it doesnt have the pontiac grille and there are Kumho tyres fitted which is MOSTLY used by HKG.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:45 pm
It looks like the Torrent. I think that the camo is designed like that to hide the Grille though.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:50 pm
It has red turn signals. Our Optima has red turn signals. It is in Europe.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Not our Optima, the Sorento shot.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:54 pm
It looks like a cloned Veracruz.
April 21st, 2008 at 5:13 pm
doesnt remind me one bit of veracruz. they were really smart to cover up the grille in a way as to not recoganise it as a Kia. it looks so goood.
April 21st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
You are so right K-sport. How could I be soooooo blind. I see Kue in this thing all the way. The roof line and the wheel base. Also is looks like it has the Kue’s taillights. And speaking of the grille, I can get an outline of the shape from the Kue. Interesting!!! In a good way!!!.
April 21st, 2008 at 5:54 pm
It even has the Kue’s A pillars and to throw us off, they make a Torrent like camo to cover the grille.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:03 pm
yes. I had noticed almost immediately that its grille is removed right off the Kue. didn’t notice all those other things.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:13 pm
even the lights have resemblence to kue. I wish it had the roof rails of KND-4. that’d look better.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:41 pm
a mini mohave with a little touch of kia kue…
April 21st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
More like a Kia Kue with a little Mohave.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Do you think the grille was covered to hide the H-shapped grille? Look at the pics closely and then let me see what you think about that…
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:14 am
Looking closely I can see: The grille camo looks like a smiley face
(not sure how you do the markup on here); the indicators (and probably parking/ position lamps for North American market), low beam and high beams are all in a line now (on the 2007-2008 Sorento the high beams were bigger, and the turn indicators were below the low beam); the grille camo could be covering the “H-grille” that is rumored to be coming to all the new Kia vehicles; the side indicators are on the fender, not integrated into the mirrors like on the Borrego and SX Optima (meaning the North American market unfortunately will probably not see that style, to my chagrin!); the rear fog lamps (and possibly reflectors?) are in the bumper, like the old style Sportage and Hyundai Santa Fe; the wheels are style 5 lug nuts (the 2006> Sedona/ Carnival is now 6 lug nuts); the roof rack is body color (never done on a Sorento); the antenna is like the short wheelbase Sedona, Sportage, Rondo, Spectra 5, Rio and Rio 5; the camo with the “kidney” effect could be a BMW, Pontiac or Volvo, though I stand by my Pontiac Torrent statement. Also, as some of you are agreeing with me about the Torrent look, they not only have the grille covered, they have every possible exterior identifier covered: the grille emblem, the rear hatch emblem, and even the hub on the wheels (which I’m pretty sure always has the Kia logo in it/ them). So they’re doing a really good job of hiding the identity of this vehicle. And the vehicle has a Euro number plate, but the photo of the rear quarter has a lot of signs with Asian writing on them. I don’t know which language, but I’d guess Korean, and that these photos are from Korea?
And Boris: the North American Optima has the circular tail lights, with the brake lights also acting as the turn indicators (and hazard flashers). The interesting thing is the owner’s manual shows the front and tail lamps as their European and/ or Asian style, and incorrectly identifies the front position lamp and rear turn signals. Greg can back me up on this. I actually emailed Kia and told them, and they called the dealership and spoke with me and said there’s nothing they could do about it!
-The End-
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:33 am
PS: Sorry if I confused anyone about the side indicators on the fender: I prefer that style. I dislike the type that is integrated into the mirrors, partially because I think it’s tacky, and also because it just adds more cost and complexity to the already tech-laden mirrors (power movement, heaters, power folding in some markets, etc.).
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:34 am
Jason: first three photos are from Germany, while the last one was taken in S.Korea. That’s the spy pic I was talking about last week, when I mentioned that I have two spy pics of upcoming Kia Sorento…
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 am
You can see that right under the main grille opening, there is another small Opening where you can see the edge of the grille. And by looking at the contours under the camo, I can see somewhat of half H on top.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:14 am
Aha! After closer inspection, I notice the vehicle from the final pic doesn’t have a roof rack! And there’s a Picanto/ Morning/ Pride in the background. The more I see of that grille, the more I’m remembering those Chevron commercials with the talking cars (not sure if you folks outside of the USA will know what I’m talking about). With the camo covering so much of the front, it looks like this grille is going to be massive, or the grille is completely missing (in these photos), and we’re seeing the radiator and thinking it’s the grille (the horizontal lines running the length of the exposed front).
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:59 am
You can see the chrome. The folks at Kia are getting mighty crafty! Did you not read my last post? It is Kues grille with a halh-H
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:15 am
You know what?? I am going to photoshop this, and it is going to look wicked awesome!
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:39 am
Sorry, it turned out like ****.
http://www4.slikomat.com/08/0422/oa1-kia-so.jpg
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
–it looks like this grille is going to be massive, or the grille is completely missing (in these photos), and we’re seeing the radiator and thinking it’s the grille –
..
Thats how Kue’s grille was; horizontal lines. the grille HUUUUUGE!!!!
..
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–the roof rack is body color (never done on a Sorento); –
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It cant be body coloured. it wouldnt look good. The roof rack is aluminium alloy coloured like on sportage. You cant tell that here because the body colour is silver on this sorento. That last pic (in Korea) upsets me a little because of the lack of a roof rack. I hope the roof rack isnt optional. I’d hate that.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
yeh the last one is in korea. on the blue sign u can see the last 2 letters of “bu dong san” meaning “real estate”. the first three are in germany (D for deutschland under the EU star ring thingo) and my german teacher ses 2 letter plates (GG in dis case) are small towns/cities/villages so dis one has to be Groß-Gerau in Hessen.
anyhoo, i hate the fact that the sorento is upsizing so there is a gap btween the sportage and the sorento cos curently its small suv is sportage, medium sorento and large borrego. sorento is becoming pretty big and unless it has the character of CUVs such as the CX7 or the GM cuvs, its gonna be left in the dark like the santafe. stupid, i know.
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I’m thinking the Sorento is no longer competiting against the Sante Fe but now with the Veracruz (that’s what I think). they currently both have standard 3.8L V6 engines. But if that is true than their is a gap between the Sportage and the Sorento only if a person looks at Hyundai’s segments. But if they look at Toyota’s or Honda’s segment, there isn’t really a gap. From Rave 4 is just the Highlander (from CRV is Pilot).
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 pm
no. sorento here is still a mid-sizer. remember the article of a mid-size pick up based on the next gen sorento? this proves that its still a mid sizer. That makes me think what the pick-up will look like of this.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:20 am
The grille is there. The lines are not small enough to be a radiator.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:16 am
yes. Thats Kue’s grille right there.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Or is it? Why do you think in the photo in Korea, the SUV is parked so that no one can see the front? What if the grille is only on the 4th photo and they removed the grille for the one testing in Europe?
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:40 pm
The reason that it is the back in the 4th picture is probably because it was parked, and they couldn’t get a clear shot of the front. I am 100% positive that that is a grille, otherwise why would they put chrome around it?
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
It could be chorme but I think it is just the color of the truck. Chrome can be difficult to notice when surrounded by silver but let it be surrounded by black and the chrome stands out. Then again the camo is sorta black but the chrome looks to be the same as the roof.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Oh yeah, I thought about the 4th photo that it was just parked but why is it that the pillars are not covered with tape like the one in Europe? That was what told me that that photo could have the grille displayed.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:13 am
The holes shown in the picture are not big enough to be the fine holes of the radiator.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:13 am
I mean small enough.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:27 am
It looks like a mix of kue and knd-4. front is inspired from kue while wheel arches and cladding remind me of knd-4.and of more interest,it features a check mark like body lines starting from a-pillar.looks nice that Kia is building its unique identity.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
yes. pete is building a new identity for Kia. The front definately reminds of the kue.
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and that has to be a grille in front which is proved in three ways:
the first reason is very obvious: not having a grille on such a big opening is bad for the radiator which will be very proned to damage.
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two: the gap between the horizontal lines is quiet large to be a radiator’s mesh.
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third reason: the camo cover in front runs through the middle of the grille meaning its hiding something which is more than likely to be the logo which are always fixed on a grille.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I think KSport is right. Finally a Kia that people can say, “That looks just like a Kia, and nothing else”
April 25th, 2008 at 4:46 am
That’s what P. Schreyer is aiming to do, exactly. It must be working.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:53 am
yeah look at its lights: angular, just like the new optima’s. we might be seeing this on many of kias cars.
April 26th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I know for a fact that the new sorento will share alot of parts with the sante fe.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Just to let you know that orange indicator lights(turn signals)are mandatory here in the UK.