Kia Sportspace (2015) revealed: it’s a new Optima estate!

► Kia to premiere Sportspace at Geneva show
► Does this foreshadow an Optima estate?
► Latest sign of expansion from Kia

Kia will showcase its new Sportspace at the 2015 Geneva motor show - a sneak peek at what is likely to become the Optima estate, we reckon.

The Sportspace is a concept car for now, and Kia says its raison d’être is ‘long-distance driving with maximum comfort and minimal stress.’

A proper cruising wagon, then…

What is it with these Sporty, Spacey names for estates?

Good point. Jaguar’s Sportbrake and F-Pace, Audi’s Sportbacks… manufacturers love a good compound noun and the new Kia’s Sportspace name ticks all the boxes for the marketing people responsible for sexing up practical family boxes.

Not that the Sportspace concept car is boxy. These first official pictures reveal a sleek, l-o-n-g shooting brake-style estate. In fact, it looks a bit like a stretched Ford Mondeo wagon in side profile.

Kia says it was designed at its European design centre in Frankfurt, under the direction of its chief Euro designer Gregory Guillaume. It's the same car that was teased a few weeks ago here.

Will Kia build the Sportspace?

No official word yet, but does this look like a flight of fancy to you? Nope, doesn’t to us, either…

Maserati Ghibli vs BMW 6 Series : Which Will You Buy?

When considering vehicles like Maserati Ghibli and the BWM 6 Series Gran Coupe, both reflect an effort toward blending dignified luxury with exhilarating performance. Though beholding vehicles of this caliber is always an exercise most fruitfully left to the natural eye, the image above serves as a simple example of each sedan’s inherent dignity. In lieu of experiencing each vehicle’s performance profile from behind the wheel, the table provided similarly works to demonstrate what both Ghibli and BMW’s 6 series have been engineered to accomplish. Comparing the Maserati Ghibli vs. BMW 6 Series in this regard yields a number of important emphases. Local clients will notice that both vehicles develop their identity around six-cylinder engines with a pair of strategic turbochargers. Yet regardless of identical displacement and analogous induction technology, Maserati serves its Ghibli clients with significantly greater quantities of horsepower and torque. In addition to t...

McLaren 650S Sprint

McLaren’s new 650S model now comes in three flavors, the standard road going 650S, the competition-spec 650S GT3 for serious racers, and now there’s the 650S Sprint which is aimed at track enthusiasts who still want a little bit of comfort. The 650S Sprint also replaces the MP4-12C-based 12C Sprint as McLaren’s track toy for the super-rich. Compared to the road model, the 650S Sprint features increased downforce and better cooling airflow to the 3.8 litre twin-turbocharged V8. It also features a competition-spec fuel tank and quick-fill cap, a larger radiator borrowed from the GT3 car, a new hood with additional cooling ducts for the radiator, front wing louvres for improved airflow, reduced ride height and recalibrated damping and spring rates, 19-inch center-locking race wheels with either Pirelli slicks or wet tires, onboard air jack system, and an upgraded braking system. On the inside the McLaren 650S Sprint features a stripped-out design with a FIA-approved rol...

Lamborghini Canto – What the Murcielago could have been?

Back in the late 1990s, when Lamborghini were starting to realise they needed a replacement for the ageing Diablo, they started reviewing design proposals from various automotive design firms. Zagato’s offering was the Zagato L147 SuperDiablo, or as it was to be later known, the Lamborghini Canto. The Lamborghini Canto first appeared in 1998, it arrived only two years after another Zagato designed Lamborghini concept had been unveiled, the Diablo-based Raptor. The cars shared a number of similar features, including the wraparound windows, triangular lateral air intakes, and trademark double-bubble roof. However of the two, the earlier Raptor was probably the better looking. Clearly Ferdinand Piech – head of the Volkswagen Group – thought so too. After VW bought Lamborghini in 1999, one of his first decisions was to review the Canto’s development and redesign the concept. The car was re-engineered and the rear extensively restyled to include smaller air intakes....

Road Strikers

Search This Blog