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A few days ago, the official picture of the new Kia K5 American model was released. As a medium-term revamped model, the biggest change in the new car is the removal of the 1.6T engine and the provision of a new 2.5-liter naturally aspirated engine. According to plans, the new car will be officially unveiled at the 2024 Chicago Motor Show.

In terms of appearance, the American version of the car released this time is similar to the new K5 Korean model released in October last year. The front face of the new car is designed with a slender, borderless tiger howling grille, and the headlight group is redesigned. The visual effect is similar to "lightning". And the front bumper details are modified synchronously, compared with the old model, the overall sense of movement is more obvious. The front encirclement is matched with enlarged size and large vents to further highlight the movement of the front face. In the rear part, the new car adopts through-type LED light belt design, the end of the taillight presents an eye-catching bifurcation structure, and integrated with smoked elements, the visual effect is quite moving.

In terms of interior decoration, the biggest change in the new car is the removal of the mechanical pointer dashboard and replaced by the integrated design of the 12.3-inch LCD dashboard and multimedia display. In addition, the air conditioning control panel of the new car is synchronously upgraded to a touch design.

In terms of power, the new car offers two engines to choose from. Among them, the ordinary version of the model is replaced with a brand new 2.5-liter naturally aspirated engine to replace the old 1.6T engine. The 2.5-liter engine has a maximum power of 142 kilowatts and a peak torque of 245 Nm, which is 11 horsepower higher than the maximum power of the 1.6T engine, but the peak torque is reduced by 19 Nm. In addition, the new Kia K5 American version also offers a sporty GT version with a 2.5T engine, a maximum power of 216kW and a peak torque of 422Nm. The GT version is available with front-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. The front-wheel drive model matches the 8-speed double clutch gearbox and the four-wheel drive model matches the 8-speed automatic transmission.

Kia K5, a medium-sized car under the Kia brand, was officially launched in March 2011. a total of 7 models were launched, with a price range of 15.98-249800 yuan, a body size of 4845/1830/1460mm, power with 2.0L and 2.4L naturally aspirated engines, maximum horsepower of 165Ps and 179Ps, peak torque of 198Nm and 231Nm. Narrow passenger car wholesale sales data show that from 2011 to 2014, Kia K5 sales were 34220, 52745, 56377 and 55474 respectively, with more than 50, 000 vehicles sold for three consecutive years, but the Asian K5 sales began to decline in 2015. 38316 vehicles were sold this year.

The Asian K5 was replaced for the first time in 2016, when the price range was 19.98-248800 yuan. As a replacement model, the appearance design of the new car has not changed much, but the power has been upgraded. the whole system is equipped with three power options of 1.6T, 2.0T and 2.0L, 1.6T matches seven-speed double clutch transmission, and 2.0T and 2.0L match six-gear manual self-integrated gearbox. Among them, the 2.0T model has the largest horsepower 245Ps, which directly competes with the three major Japanese cars, Accord, Camry and Teana. But this year, Kia K5 sales did not improve. Narrow passenger car wholesale sales data show that Asian K5 sales have been 34623 since 2016, and have also declined in the following three years, to 27864 and 10825 respectively from 2017 to 2018, and directly lost their former glory in 2019. Sales plummeted to 2121.

When the third generation of Kia K5 was released in September 2020, great changes have taken place in both the naming and appearance design of this generation of models. It is named Kia K5 Kaiku at home, and it is also uniformly known as Kia K5 (formerly known as OPTIMA) abroad. The price is 16.18-205800 yuan. Compared with the previous generation of models, the price has dropped significantly, and the body size has reached 4980/1860/1455mm. Compared with the same level of competitor Accord and Camry, it has more advantages. The power is equipped with 2.0T and 1.5T engines, in which 2.0T engine matches 8AT gearbox, maximum horsepower 240Ps, maximum torque 353N ·m 1.5T engine matches 7DCT double clutch transmission, maximum horsepower 170Ps, maximum torque 253N ·m. It is also from this generation of models that Kia K5 sales have returned to the level of 10,000 vehicles, with cumulative sales of 17547 vehicles in 2020. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. With the increase of domestic similar car models, Kia K5 Kaiku's market share was also diluted, and sales declined again in 2021-2022, including 10561 in 2021, nearly halved in 2022, and only 6460 left. retail sales in 2023 are only 3116.

According to the official website, Kia is currently on sale in China, including Zhirun, K3, K5, Huanchi, Jiahua and other full-product passenger cars covering sedans, SUV and MPV, but the performance of the model market is very mediocre, and Kia urgently needs to launch more competitive products. Asian sales rose 4.2 per cent year-on-year to 244940 vehicles since January, according to the data. Of this total, the Korean market grew 15.3 per cent year-on-year to 44608 vehicles, while non-Korean markets grew 2 per cent to 200073 vehicles.

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