Buyers Are Spending Big On Hot-Selling Kia Telluride

It is difficult to put into words how much of a success the Telluride has been for Kia, though the company's Director of Corporate Communications, James Bell, summed it up pretty well when he referred to the mid-size crossover as the "Selluride." The2020 Kia Telluriderecently showed its global appeal bywinning World Car of the Year(despite not being offered in several European markets). Bell said, the vehicle "is continuing to be an absolute home run."

Speaking with CarBuzz, Bell explained that the Telluride is still sold out, and having gone on sale in February 2019, "it's still selling for over MSRP." He revealed that many customers are forgoing their preferred color choice just to nab one in inventory. Kia is obviously excited to carry some of this momentum into the upcoming2021 Kia Sorentoand keep those Telluride embers burning hot.

Judging from what we've seen from theSorento's European debut, Kia could have yet another hit SUV on its hands. So what lessons have Kia learned from Telluride that could be applied to Sorrento?

"We learned on Telluride about the purity of its design, about its intention, and how it relates to people," said Bell, without specifically confirming the Sorento is coming to the US market. "There's a comfort factor. We want to continue that sentiment. That 'do anything, give it everything' approach with Sorento."

The Telluride's sales figures are even more impressive when you realize that the most sought after model by customers is the highest SX trim with the Premium Package. Bell said Kia noticed a similar phenomenon with the Stinger, which was initially expected to have around a 70-30 percent sales split in favor of the four-cylinder model.

"Very early on, our product planning learned that should have been swapped over [in favor of the V6]," said Bell. "We've even trimmed down some of the trim offerings on the four-cylinder turbo. There's just not as much action on the base model as there is on the six-cylinder."