Kia has become the first brand to admit it will need to pull the handbrake on stocks of less efficient, non-turbo petrol cars – and steer customers to hybrids – under imminent CO2 caps for new vehicles.
Kia customers may soon face artificial wait times on less fuel-efficient, high-emissions, non-turbo petrol cars and SUVs to help their maker avoid costly fines for not meeting new CO2 rules.
The South Korean car giant will begin limiting stock of non-turbocharged petrol models – such as the base four-cylinder Sportage or V6 Sorento – and directing customers into hybrids to assist its average.
It says it has no plans to axe any engine type, and intends to retain a mix of petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric power over the coming years as customers demand them.
However, the petrol engines in question are lighter than equivalent diesel or petrol-electric hybrid variants – yet emit more CO2 – so they are most at risk under the rules, which calculate emissions targets based on vehicle weight.
Kia is understood to be the first auto brand to formally confirm it will limit supply of petrol cars under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which will penalise car makers for selling too many high-emissions cars.
Manufacturers will still be able to sell vehicles which exceed the NVES' CO2 targets, but they will need to offset them with sales of low- or zero-emissions cars in order to avoid hefty government fines.
Kia is currently rolling out new electric vehicles – its latest being the small EV3 – but it is also months away from launching its first ute, the diesel-engined Tasman.
Roland Rivero, Kia Australia general manager of product planning, told Drive the company has no plans to drop diesel engines as "the NVES calculations actually give you some benefit for mass."
"The heavier you are, the better it works out from the calculation of the target. And the diesels are a little bit heavier," he said.
"So the ones that we should ... focus on are V6 petrol or four-cylinder MPI [petrol].
"[They're] a little bit lighter, and CO2 [emissions are] not great. They're the ones that organically ... V6 petrol, and even four-cylinder on the Sportage will start to come down in ordering."
Asked if Kia Australia head office would begin actively limiting supply of these models, he said: "We'd limit our dealers, despite customer orders and what-not.
"We would limit our dealers from ordering too many of those, and push them towards the diesels and push them towards hybrids, because it can't just be all left up to EV3 and EV5 [electric cars] to do all the heavy lifting.
"Every car line has to be looked at, and we have no desire to reduce the offering.
"We think that all the customers out there in Australia are all different. They have different needs and preferences for vehicle sizes and vehicle types, and powertrains too for that matter. So diesel's not going away anytime soon, particularly on Sorento and Sportage."
In the first year of the scheme, a Kia Sorento GT-Line V6 petrol would hurt the brand's emissions average to the equivalent of a $6200 fine on every vehicle sold.
In contrast, the diesel would be $600 in 'credit' territory – meaning it would lower the brand's average, and offset higher polluters in the range – and the hybrid would be $3000 to $3800 in the black.
Phrased another way, it means Kia would need to sell two Sorento hybrids to offset the impact of a V6 petrol variant on its emissions average.
V6 petrol engines are offered by Kia in the Sorento SUV and Carnival people mover, while 'MPI' (multi-point injection) non-turbo four-cylinder petrol engines are sold in the Picanto, K4, Seltos and Sportage.
Only the Sorento, Sportage and Carnival are offered as diesels and hybrids, while the Seltos and K4 offer turbocharged engine options.
In the coming months, Kia will expand the Sorento hybrid range beyond the top-trim GT-Line to the rest of the line-up, in S, Sport and Sport+ variants.
Meanwhile, the Carnival – which is available with the Sorento's V6 petrol engine – is set to add S and Sport+ hybrids to join today's GT-Line, while all-wheel-drive Sportage hybrids are planned to join today's front-wheel-drive SX and GT-Line grades as part of a mid-life update.
They are due in showrooms in the next six months, with the Sportage and Sorento to follow the Carnival.
"It'll start from [July 1]," Rivero said, when asked when the limitation on supply of less efficient petrol engines will commence.
"And it's already kind of started. We haven't been getting much stock of V6 on the Carnival, for example. Most of that V6 supply is actually going to the United States, to North America. I don't know if it's going to continue that way with the tariffs.
"But anyway, we've been very limited, and our dealers are very dynamic. They're able to work with what you give them. And Carnival up to now has been largely diesel, probably 90-plus per cent diesel, with very little V6 petrol.
"So I think we believe that anyway, just judging by what's happened with Carnival, that we can easily facilitate that also with Sportage and Sorento.
"Sportage has of course the benefits, so does Sorento, of the hybrid. And some of those fleets that are buying the four-cylinder MPI now, we're going to have to transition into hybrid territory."
Should future Kia cars move to hybrid-only line-ups, as rumoured for the Sportage – or a choice of petrol and hybrid power, and no diesel – Rivero said Kia Australia would "absolutely" get the stock it needs to maintain its sales volume.
Sister brand Hyundai's new Santa Fe has moved to a choice of turbo-petrol and turbo-petrol hybrid propulsion for its latest generation, dropping the diesel even though it accounted for the majority of sales in Australia.
The next-generation Kia Sorento is a strong chance to follow suit, given it is closely related to the Santa Fe.
"I think naturally over the course of time we have to be dynamic enough to adjust to what we get given," Rivero said when asked about such a move.
"And I think Hyundai is going through the motions of that now. I think some of their dealers might be missing the diesel that was once in both Tucson and Santa Fe.
"But we've got to optimise whatever we get given, and we are not really a complaints organisation. We get what we get, and we make the most of it."
It is pertinent as, in recent years, Kia has struggled to get stock of its hybrid variants for local customers – especially compared to sister brand Hyundai – often limited to 20 cars a month on particular models.
Stock is improving, which has made the planned expansion of the hybrid range in the coming months possible.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
