Kia to Kill Sedona in 2011

South Korean manufacturer Kia will cease production of the seven-seat Sedona MPV in 2011 and won't replace it with another model. The news was confirmed by a company official who explained that the reduced demand for the Sedona was the main factor that convinced the company to stop production of the car.

“With the current trend being towards downsizing, there is no longer a case for cars like the Sedona in the UK,” a source was quoted as saying by autocar.co.uk. “All our efforts in Europe are making powertrains smaller and more efficient so it’s hard to make a business case for a large MPV with lots of power and high emissions.”

On the other hand, Kia will still debut the Magentis in 2011 and the first concept has already been revealed to a limited number of people in South Korea.

“The new Magentis will be here in 2011 but at the moment we’re getting ready to show it off as a concept,” the source added. “Peter Schreyer [Kia’s European chief designer] has had lots of influence and it’s going to be a very smart design.”

Kia Sedona, which was launched in 2002 and received the first facelift in 2006, was offered with both petrol and diesel engines. The top-of-the-range configuration was the 3.8-liter V6 unit that develops 250 horsepower and 343 Nm of torque at 3,500 rpm and is mated to a 5-speed automatic transmission (market dependent). As for fuel consumption, the MPV achieves 16 mpg (14.7 L/100Km) city and 23 mpg (10.2 L/100Km) highway.