Photo: CarPix / Kia
Remember the Kia Borrego? Me neither. Happily, however, the Internet is a resourceful place to uncover the past. To make a long story short, the Kia Borrego mid-size SUV arrived in the United States for the 2009 model year and the South Korean manufacturer immediately replaced it with the Sorento due to slow sales. After it had been discontinued for Canada in 2011, the model soldiered on as the Mohave in places such as the Middle East.
Though it's been a commercial failure since the day it was born, the Mohave will live on for hell knows how many years to come, at least until Kia decides to put the Telluride Concept into production. Till then, the 2016 Kia Mohave facelift will have to do. And yes, I can tell you for certain that the pictured car is the facelift because Kia launched it in South Korea earlier on, in February.
Look beyond the camouflage and you’ll see the similarities between the prototype and the 2016 Kia Mohave, including the chintzy grille, LED DRLs, chrome mirror caps, and the redesigned taillights. The thing is, our team of spy photographers caught the Mohave testing in Germany and, as mentioned beforehand, the model isn’t sold there because it would overlap the more modern and more appealing Sorento.
As Kia and Hyundai boffins might know by now, whatever car the South Korean manufacturers test in Germany, that car will be sold in Europe, the U.S., or both. But then again, such a scenario will likely never happen because the Mohave / Borrego mid-size sport utility vehicle doesn’t have what it takes to intrigue more than the Sorento mid-size SUV does. It would be utterly ludicrous for Kia to do such a thing.
Already on sale in South Korea, the 2016 Kia Mohave facelift has yet to be launched in the United Arab Emirates or Russia. If my intuition is correct, then the prototype you’re looking at is a test bed for the updated Mohave the Emirati and Russians will get later this year.
The facelifted Mohave is motivated by a 3.0-liter turbo diesel V6 engine with 260 horsepower and 256 lb-ft (347 Nm) of torque. For comparison’s sake, the range-topping powertrain of the U.S.-spec 2016 Kia Sorento consists of a 3.3-liter gasoline-fed V6 engine with 290 horsepower and 252 lb-ft (341 Nm) on tap.
Look beyond the camouflage and you’ll see the similarities between the prototype and the 2016 Kia Mohave, including the chintzy grille, LED DRLs, chrome mirror caps, and the redesigned taillights. The thing is, our team of spy photographers caught the Mohave testing in Germany and, as mentioned beforehand, the model isn’t sold there because it would overlap the more modern and more appealing Sorento.
As Kia and Hyundai boffins might know by now, whatever car the South Korean manufacturers test in Germany, that car will be sold in Europe, the U.S., or both. But then again, such a scenario will likely never happen because the Mohave / Borrego mid-size sport utility vehicle doesn’t have what it takes to intrigue more than the Sorento mid-size SUV does. It would be utterly ludicrous for Kia to do such a thing.
Already on sale in South Korea, the 2016 Kia Mohave facelift has yet to be launched in the United Arab Emirates or Russia. If my intuition is correct, then the prototype you’re looking at is a test bed for the updated Mohave the Emirati and Russians will get later this year.
The facelifted Mohave is motivated by a 3.0-liter turbo diesel V6 engine with 260 horsepower and 256 lb-ft (347 Nm) of torque. For comparison’s sake, the range-topping powertrain of the U.S.-spec 2016 Kia Sorento consists of a 3.3-liter gasoline-fed V6 engine with 290 horsepower and 252 lb-ft (341 Nm) on tap.
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