Will Kia Stinger really flog an SS?

[commodore665]

Korea's no Thailand; it's more like Japan these days, where people get paid a decent wage etc etc. Their main cost advantages c/f Aus these days would be volume (no OS head office limiting sales potential) & government commitment.
And don't forget that a $60k Redline would cost very little more than a $35k Evoke to build.
And in the same way, the $60k GT would cost SFA more to build than the $49k V6 Si, let alone the base 2L (unpriced as yet, but probably just under $40k).

Pricing is a big game, the company itself has to make money & everything has to be priced "correctly" across the while range ... a Stinger has to cost more than an Optima, but less than a Genesis. Additionally you can't underprice something too much in the market or people consider it to be **** just due to price; but you also can't overprice as nobody will buy it.

Dunno, AU$60k seems about right for something with higher-than-Redline equipment, which isn't quite as big but still seats four, is RWD, which won't be as refined as a BMW 5 or Benz E, and which should hopefully have Kia build-quality & reliability. Without Falcodore in the market, it's really only Hyundai's lack-of-reputation that's got it priced as relatively-low as it is, IMHO.

cast your mind back to the 1980's when the truly woeful Hyundai Steller and Pony's were released on a unknowing public, they were horrid in every sense of the word , nowadays , Korean cars, like Hyundai , Kia have improved immensely , even Daewoo , who are getting better , all the time , will no doubt have an impact as models progress .

 

[Forg]

Hey commodore665, were those things sold officially in NZ by Hyundai sales channels, or were they part of the Rise Of The Grey Imports at that time?

They didn't even try selling anything bigger than an Accent (badged Excel) here for about the first 10 years, then the mid-sized Elantra mid 90's (which seemed like a reasonable appliance to test-drive - but the Mitsubishi origins tended to make them die mechanically even within warranty). Didn't really get any reliability until they totally ditched Mitsubihi origins & started designing their own mechanicals, early-mid noughties (or just using components from Anywhere - dunno is the Stinger 8spd a ZF?).

Dunno that Daewoo have been allowed the budget to develop as quickly/well as Hyundai ... The Mothership has probably always said "no no no, you have to cheapen the Opel architecture from 10yrs ago!".

Back to the thread subject ... I like that the Stinger is a decent car, but I think I like even more that the Oz-developed 1.5-generations-older VF is still a better drive.

 

[commodore665]

Hey commodore665, were those things sold officially in NZ by Hyundai sales channels, or were they part of the Rise Of The Grey Imports at that time?

They didn't even try selling anything bigger than an Accent (badged Excel) here for about the first 10 years, then the mid-sized Elantra mid 90's (which seemed like a reasonable appliance to test-drive - but the Mitsubishi origins tended to make them die mechanically even within warranty). Didn't really get any reliability until they totally ditched Mitsubihi origins & started designing their own mechanicals, early-mid noughties (or just using components from Anywhere - dunno is the Stinger 8spd a ZF?).

Dunno that Daewoo have been allowed the budget to develop as quickly/well as Hyundai ... The Mothership has probably always said "no no no, you have to cheapen the Opel architecture from 10yrs ago!".

Back to the thread subject ... I like that the Stinger is a decent car, but I think I like even more that the Oz-developed 1.5-generations-older VF is still a better drive.

yes apparently they were sold new in NZ , long before my arrival from South Africa , I'm unsure how or whom got them into the country , I vaguely think they were brought in by the Subaru dealer network Winger Subaru , but cannot be sure , they may or may not , just as a aside , been responsible for importing Lada's as well .
as for the Stinger , I like the looks of it , but you can't change brand bias , more is the pity .

 

[monstar]

Korea's no Thailand; it's more like Japan these days, where people get paid a decent wage etc etc. Their main cost advantages c/f Aus these days would be volume (no OS head office limiting sales potential) & government commitment.
And don't forget that a $60k Redline would cost very little more than a $35k Evoke to build.
And in the same way, the $60k GT would cost SFA more to build than the $49k V6 Si, let alone the base 2L (unpriced as yet, but probably just under $40k).

Pricing is a big game, the company itself has to make money & everything has to be priced "correctly" across the while range ... a Stinger has to cost more than an Optima, but less than a Genesis. Additionally you can't underprice something too much in the market or people consider it to be **** just due to price; but you also can't overprice as nobody will buy it.

Dunno, AU$60k seems about right for something with higher-than-Redline equipment, which isn't quite as big but still seats four, is RWD, which won't be as refined as a BMW 5 or Benz E, and which should hopefully have Kia build-quality & reliability. Without Falcodore in the market, it's really only Hyundai's lack-of-reputation that's got it priced as relatively-low as it is, IMHO.

What the fark is higher spec equipment than Redline?

 

[lmfvf2ssredlineute]

Korea's no Thailand; it's more like Japan these days, where people get paid a decent wage etc etc. Their main cost advantages c/f Aus these days would be volume (no OS head office limiting sales potential) & government commitment.
And don't forget that a $60k Redline would cost very little more than a $35k Evoke to build.
And in the same way, the $60k GT would cost SFA more to build than the $49k V6 Si, let alone the base 2L (unpriced as yet, but probably just under $40k).

Pricing is a big game, the company itself has to make money & everything has to be priced "correctly" across the while range ... a Stinger has to cost more than an Optima, but less than a Genesis. Additionally you can't underprice something too much in the market or people consider it to be **** just due to price; but you also can't overprice as nobody will buy it.

Dunno, AU$60k seems about right for something with higher-than-Redline equipment, which isn't quite as big but still seats four, is RWD, which won't be as refined as a BMW 5 or Benz E, and which should hopefully have Kia build-quality & reliability. Without Falcodore in the market, it's really only Hyundai's lack-of-reputation that's got it priced as relatively-low as it is, IMHO.

no ifs or buts about it , its a lot cheaper to build a stinger in korea , than a build ss redline in australia wtf ???
shure there cars are getting better, and there wages are going up , but guess what kia are moving half of its plants to china just to lower production cost even more.
in those asian countries car workers would be treated like dogs
i know i worked on the line in the 80s at toyota port melb and the japs were the big bosses at the plant and they walked around like it was the ti burma railway
every thing is time in motion , no matter what the production target was , if it was reached it would be higher the next day , preasure was never ending . you could not even go for a piss
i would hate to think what car workers get treated like in korea
as monstar asked what is higher spec than a redline ? real dog skin leather interior

 

[panhead]

Over my career I’ve worked at the pointy end for multinationals in Japan, South Korea, China & the USA and I can tell you South Korea has a very high standard of living.

High wages, fast tech, good education and medical infrastructure and high housing prices to boot which is offset by cheaper public utilities.

Australia also has a high standard of living and very high quality of life.

It’s the cost of living in Australia that is high by comparison to South Korea as it also is against the UK, Japan, Canada, NZ and the USA.

I don't know why people put South Korea down as a manufacturing nation as they are far from second rate and they are very proud of what they achieve.

As far as the car thingy is concerned, they had to start somewhere which was the bottom and they have improved and improved and become a force to be reckoned with where the Aussie car industry had done the reverse and in simplistic terms dropped the ball by not competing with other manufacturers by offering what the bulk of customers wanted.

I love my V8's and the only thing that attracted me to the Commodore was the cheap V8 option but I'm alone amongst most of my friends who gave up on Commodore years ago.

I don't know if they'd buy a Stringer though as most of them sit high in SUV's.


.

 

[monstar]

Over my career I’ve worked at the pointy end for multinationals in Japan, South Korea, China & the USA and I can tell you South Korea has a very high standard of living.

High wages, fast tech, good education and medical infrastructure and high housing prices to boot which is offset by cheaper public utilities.

Australia also has a high standard of living and very high quality of life.

It’s the cost of living in Australia that is high by comparison to South Korea as it also is against the UK, Japan, Canada, NZ and the USA.

I don't know why people put South Korea down as a manufacturing nation as they are far from second rate and they are very proud of what they achieve.

As far as the car thingy is concerned, they had to start somewhere which was the bottom and they have improved and improved and become a force to be reckoned with where the Aussie car industry had done the reverse and in simplistic terms dropped the ball by not competing with other manufacturers by offering what the bulk of customers wanted.

I love my V8's and the only thing that attracted me to the Commodore was the cheap V8 option but I'm alone amongst most of my friends who gave up on Commodore years ago.

I don't know if they'd buy a Stringer though as most of them sit high in SUV's.


.

I think the point being made was about comparative cost of production that is a result of many things including a more fair and level income distribution here.

 

[Forg]

What the fark is higher spec equipment than Redline?

In terms of what I care about, radar cruise & CarPlay / Android Auto. If the 8spd auto is anywhere near as much smarter than he GM 6spd as the ZF 8spd is, I kinda/sorta care about that, in a "don't really care because an auto is just an auto and is never for enthusiasts" way.
Actually the MR suspension is quite likely a Good Thing too.
But also other pointless **** I don't care about like 174-speaker sound, heated seats, rubbish like that which is higher spec regardless of whather or not I care about it.

I don't know why people put South Korea down as a manufacturing nation as they are far from second rate and they are very proud of what they achieve.

As far as the car thingy is concerned, they had to start somewhere which was the bottom and they have improved and improved and become a force to be reckoned with where the Aussie car industry had done the reverse and in simplistic terms dropped the ball by not competing with other manufacturers by offering what the bulk of customers wanted.

The difference is that Hyundai are owned by Koreans.
Anything Australian got stifled or bought by British & American competition before it even took off. Nothing much done here was ever going to outweigh pressures & influences from OS; Commodore & Falcon were still on the biggest-seller lists right to the end, the manufacturers were making what the customers wanted to the best of their abilities, but being part of multinational conglomerates meant they had no power to be able to properly sell outside of Australasia & get the volumes needed. Which is still relevant if the product being (not) sold were a different one.

Lookit Daewoo, or GM Korea or whatever it's called. They only sell ****, especially compared to Hyundai/Kia. Becaue they got bought years ago, and are not allowed to not sell ****.

I think the point being made was about comparative cost of production that is a result of many things including a more fair and level income distribution here.

When Ford looked into building Rangers here vs Thailand, the difference was a few dollars per unit. More than enough to get a car company to build vehicles in Thailand; but we're comparing the cost of building here to Korea, and Korea has a standard of living (and pay) that's a lot closer to here than Thailand.

 

[Smashfist]

but we're comparing the cost of building here to Korea, and Korea has a standard of living (and pay) that's a lot closer to here than Thailand.

People also forget you have to freight the things halfway across the world too.

 

[Hyperduc]

Went for a drive today in the Redline.

Just ticked over 1000km, changing gears in the auto with the paddles, finally getting above 3000rpm and stretching its legs into the hills.

Bi-modal rely pulled, radio off, listening to those 8 beautiful cylinders pulling, building performance.

Each to their own but I've placed my bet. Won't be selling anytime soon.

Still doesn't beat the Bike though.