Stung: Kia Kills the Stinger

by Tim Healey

Published: December 21st, 2022

It's a sad day for fans of mid-luxury sports sedans/four-door coupes. And fans of the Kia Stinger. Or for people like yours truly, fans of both.

The Kia Stinger is officially dead. And Kia is sending it out with a special Tribute Edition.

Only 1,000 units will be built worldwide. The Tribute Edition will be based on the GT trim with the 3.3-liter twin-turbocharged V6 and offer buyers the choice of an Ascot Green or Moonscape matte gray paint. It will have 19-inch gloss-black wheels, a black trim finish, and black-painted brake calipers.

Inside, it will have Terracotta brown leather for the seats, steering wheel, and some trim bits to go along with a carbon-effect trim finish and unique badging. There will also be a numbered door-sill plate.

This news is shocking though not surprising since there's not much of a market for entry/mid-luxury sports sedans/four-door coupes. It's too bad, since the Stinger was a joy to drive.

That said, Kia will happily sell you an EV6 GT for $61K.

[Images: Kia]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 15 comments

Analoggrotto on Dec 22, 2022

This attempted to appeal to the more sensible end of the Dodge Charger crowd. And failed. They don't exist.

1 Reply
ToolGuy on Dec 23, 2022

Kia Stinger (not the special edition) is on my short list of vehicles to consider purchasing used one of these days. Low sales volume means expensive parts means probably not, but it's on the list. (I know you are excited for me.)

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Recent Comments

Legacygt It was more than 20 years ago that the Bangle designed BMW sedans started looking a little bit awkward. But the lineup today is chock full of downright ugly vehicles. This is one of them.
Jeff It does state in this article that Europeans as well as Americans have cooled on EVs. I can see push back from consumers on the 2035 deadline for EVs in Europe and in states like California. I have no problem with manufacturers offering EVs but many for at least now don't want EVs. Maybe GM instead of planning to do away with the Malibu to make more EVs should have offered the Malibu as only a hybrid like Toyota is offering the Camry for 2025. It would cost GM a lot less to offer a hybrid Malibu and it would outsell any EV that plant would produce. I even think GM would increase sales of the Malibu as a hybrid only and more competitive pricing.
Kwik_Shift_Pro4X I fell asleep looking at that image.
Verbal Rented a Malibu a while back. It was fine, if a bit gutless.I get that Detroit wants to go all-in on high profit margin SUVs and blinged-out MAGA trucks. Everyone has known for decades that they can't compete on price in the affordable sedan space. So now all of Detroit's sedans are gone except for a couple of Cadillac models.But you'd think that just one of the domestic brands could produce a fun, competitive and affordable sedan. Just one? Please? Anyone? Bueller?
3-On-The-Tree I wouldn’t even use Ford as a hearse for fear of being late to my party.