Let’s give the birthday bumps to the long-running Kia Sportage, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this week.
It’s fair to say that the Sportage looked quite a bit different to the one you can lease today when it was first revealed in 1993.
Kia as a brand had only arrived in the UK a couple of years earlier - and Kia’s transformational success story is something pretty unique in British motoring.
The Sportage has gone on to sell 384,778 units in the UK so far - with seven million examples flogged worldwide.
The versatile SUV - which you can lease with Select Car Leasing from £288 per month* - is now in its fifth generation. Kia says the latest iteration is the ‘most stylish, modern, technologically advanced and eco-conscious version of the popular family favourite’ we’ve yet seen.
And a Kia spokesperson explains: “Across the same timespan, the Sportage has transformed from a utilitarian, rugged SUV into a more luxurious and comfortable car aimed at young families and professionals. However, the Sportage has not lost any of its load-lugging, workhorse credentials, and is still able to comfortably seat five occupants while carrying an impressive payload.”
The Sportage is currently the fourth best-selling car in the UK this year, with more than 32,000 units sold in 2023 so far.
That popularity results from the Sportage’s grown-up good looks, as well as a choice of petrol mild hybrid, self-charging hybrid, and plug-in hybrid powertrains.
That plug-in hybrid Sportage boasts a 43-mile electric range and attracts a low 8% Benefit in Kind (BIK) tax rate, which has made it popular with fleets and company car drivers.
A Kia spokesperson adds: “If every Sportage sold in the UK since its introduction to the market in 1995 was lined up bumper-to-bumper, the line of cars would stretch from Kia UK’s head offices in Walton-on-Thames, more than 870 miles to the plant where the Sportage has been manufactured since 2007 in Žilina, Slovakia – and 197 miles back again.”
What might surprise you is that the Kia Sportage also has serious endurance rallying credentials. Back in the Nineties, it became the first car to ever complete both the Paris-Dakar rally in 1993 and the Baja 1000 in 1995.
The Sportage has go-anywhere abilities right now, too, with the mild-hybrid, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid variants giving you the option of all-wheel drive.
The fifth gen Sportage was revealed in 2021 and joined the lease market in 2022.
*Prices include VAT. Credit is Subject to Status, Ts and Cs and Arrangement Fees apply. Excess mileage may apply. Stock levels and prices correct as of 20/11/23.
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