Kia Stonic to go turbo only in Australia, price rise likely

The Kia Stonic – the SUV version of the defunct Kia Rio city hatch – is set for a price rise when the entire model range adopts frugal turbocharged engines by the middle of the year.

Kia has announced the 1.4-litre petrol engine in the two most affordable Stonic variants – some of Australia's cheapest SUVs, priced from $24,990 drive-away – will be deleted from the global range for Model Year 2025.

All models in Australia will now be powered by a more complex and fuel-efficient 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission – which is likely to lead to a price rise.

Today the turbo engine is currently exclusive to the GT-Line, which is $4000 more expensive than the next model down – offset by additional equipment.

Orders were paused for the two 1.4-litre Stonic variants – the S and Sport – late last year to ensure the remaining stock of 1.4-litre engines would cover customers already in the queue, and to manage a growing order book.

Prices for the updated line-up are yet to be revealed. The current Stonic S manual costs $24,990 drive-away, rising to $25,990 with an automatic transmission.

"We turned the tap off on 1.4-litre [Stonics] because the back-orders were just getting very difficult to manage and we spoke about ... [as] customers [start] to get too frustrated, they want their deposits back handed over to them," Kia Australia general manager of product planning Roland Rivero told Drive.

"We definitely don't want to go through that experience of customers waiting too long for a back-order to come through.

Mr Rivero said the decision to axe the 1.4-litre engine was made by head office in South Korea for all global markets that sell the Stonic – a vehicle aimed at the European market.

"One reason [for pausing orders] the number of back orders coming through, but also from Model Year 2025 globally, the 1.4 MPI powertrain is deleted from the Stonic range. There's no region in the world that can actually get a 1.4 MPI.

"We prepared ourselves for that early on, because if we kept taking orders of 1.4s we're going to run into a problem when the tap turns off and the customer then gets told 'you're going to have to actually pay an upgrade amount' [for the new model].

"With Model Year 2025, we still want to keep a three trim strategy – S, Sport and GT-Line – it's just that they're all going to have the same powertrain."

The deletion of the 1.4-litre engine – available with six-speed manual and automatic transmissions – is also likely to spell the end for the manual gearbox, as the Stonic's 1.0-litre turbo engine is only offered locally with a dual-clutch automatic.

Just 2 per cent of Kia Stonics sold in Australia last year were manuals.

It is unclear if there will be further changes to the Stonic line-up for Model Year 2025, beyond the engine change.

The Kia Stonic arrived in Australia in 2021 but it dates back to 2017 in Europe – and is one of the oldest models in the company's range, alongside the Picanto, also of 2017 vintage.

While the Rio hatch on which it is based has been axed in developed markets, Kia has committed to the Stonic for the foreseeable future. It is unclear if a second facelift is planned, similar to the Picanto late last year.