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The Kia Sorento Plug-in Hybrid SUV – which has seven-seats (very rare for a plug-in hybrid) – will cost £44,995 for the grade ‘2’, £48,895 for the ‘3’, and £53,095 for the ‘4’. The first examples are set to reach showrooms early in the New Year.
The Sorento Plug-in Hybrid has a 1.6-litre T-GDi Turbocharged Direct injection petrol engine with a 13.8 kWh battery pack and high output electric motor, with CO2 emissions expected to be 38 g/km and an electric range of 35 miles – or up to 43 miles in urban environments
The low CO2 emissions of the Sorento Plug-in Hybrid makes it attractive for business users, thanks to its low company car Benefit-in-Kind taxation rates.
Power is sent to all four wheels via a newly-designed six-speed automatic transmission, allowing the full power of the engine and electric motor to be harnessed.
The launch of the Sorento Plug-in Hybrid introduces a range of innovations throughout the powertrain that all combine to ensure that it’s the most advanced, efficient PHEV to date from Kia. An independent battery pack water-cooling system makes its debut for the first time in a plug-in hybrid and is designed to ensure optimal heat management and efficiency for the high-voltage battery pack, and a new two-stage lamination process for the rotor on the electric motor aims to reduce noise and vibration levels.
The lithium-ion polymer battery pack is located beneath the driver and front passenger seats, between the cabin floor and the underfloor; the 67-litre fuel tank is located beneath the floor underneath the second row of seats; and the 3.3 kW on-board charger is situated beneath the cargo floor. The result is that a third row of seats can be accommodated.
With all seven seats in use, there’s still 175 litres of space for weekend luggage or shopping, while this expands to 809 litres with the rearmost seats folded down flat and the Sorento operating in five-seat mode.
From the ‘3’ grade up, the 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system has additional functionality to enable drivers to more easily locate vehicle charging points while on the go.
With the addition of the Sorento Plug-in Hybrid to the line-up, Kia now offers four different plug-in hybrid products, across a variety of different segments: the Ceed Sportswagon, XCeed, Niro and now the Sorento seven-seat SUV.
