Autocar received word from a Kia spokesman that, once remaining stock sells out, the company will cease offering diesel versions of the Rio and Venga in the country.
In 2017, 1673 examples of the 8470 Rios sold nationally, or roughly 20 per cent, were diesels. Figures for the Venga were similar, with 1172 diesel units sold out of a total of 6130 cars. Both of these figures were down from 2016.
The South Korean automaker says the diesel vehicles haven’t been dropped due to declining public faith in diesel vehicles. However, after Dieselgate, diesels have fallen out of favor across most of Europe, so we really can’t rule this out.
Although Kia recently introduced a new generation of the Rio, the Venga may not be in production for much longer.
Last year, Kia revealed that it would be “difficult to justify” keeping the Venga in production following the arrival of the 2018 Stonic. In Europe. throughout 2016, just 26,000 Vengas were sold, a mere 6 per cent of the company’s total sales in the market. The Stonic, meanwhile, has the potential to sell in much greater numbers as it is a crossover rather than a small MPV.
