Kia Philippines, under the distributorship of ACMoblity, has posted a teaser on its social media pages for an upcoming all-new model. As expected of a teaser, it doesn’t show the entire car, but there’s a good chance that this might be the Sonet subcompact crossover SUV.
The contours of the grille shown on the teaser matches the grille of the Kia Sonet
So what is the Sonet offering for prospective buyers? If we consider the global specs of this upcoming crossover, it provides a lot of features despite its compact frame.
For size, it is 3,995mm long, 1,790mm wide, and 1,622mm in height. These numbers indicate that it is significantly wider and taller than the Toyota Raize. It likewise gets a modern-looking center console, as well as a digital gauge cluster.
The global version of the Sonet also gets a load of advanced driver-assist features - something that has been proliferating in the subcompact and compact crossover segments nowadays.
The India-spec Kia Sonet
In markets where it is sold, some variants of the Sonet have forward collision-avoidance assist, lane keep assist, driver attention warning, and lane following assist, among other ADAS technologies. Hopefully, the one coming to the Philippines has these as well.
With regards to powertrains, we aren’t sure just yet what the Philippine market is getting, but the Sonet is available with a 1.2-liter inline-4 engine that can make 82 horsepower and 115 Nm of torque, a 1.5-liter turbodiesel that can churn out 115 hp and 250 Nm of torque, or a 1.0-liter turbocharged three-banger that’s good for 120 hp and 172 Nm of torque.
It isn’t likely that we’ll be getting the diesel version, but the inline-3 turbo looks quite promising as it is peppier compared to the 1,0-liter turbo three-banger on the Raize. And for transmissions, this Kia crossover’s gasoline versions use a five-speed manual gearbox, a continuously variant transmission (CVT), or a dual-clutch transmission.
A peek inside the Sonet
Pricing is yet to be determined by Kia PH, but it would make sense that the Sonet will be positioned with a price tag that’s competitive against the Toyota Raize and the Geely GX3 Pro.
There are likewise rumors floating around that the Kia Sonet is replacing the Stonic. Concerning that, there have been no clear confirmations yet, so let’s just wait for Kia PH for their final word.
As per the teaser, the brand says that the 2024 Kia Sonet is coming out for the Philippines in June. It didn’t however, provide an exact launch date so stay here on Philkotse for more updates.