The 2027 Sportage Hybrid keeps its 1.6L turbo-four and lithium battery. It is the first hybrid model built at Hyundai Group’s Georgia plant. The sprawling Georgia facility was initially meant to build only EVs. Building cars where you sell them has become the smart play in an era of shifting tariffs, and Kia is leaning into it. The brand has built gas Sportages in the US for years. Now the hybrid version joins them, with production moving to Hyundai’s Metaplant in Ellabell, Georgia, where it will share floor space with the all-electric Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 9. US-built versions of the Sportage Hybrid will be available starting in the 2027 model year and are set to arrive at dealerships this summer. The Metaplant will handle production of all available Sportage Hybrid models, including the LX, S, EX, X-Line, and SX-Prestige variants. The Hyundai Motor Group’s huge plant in Georgia was originally going to focus exclusively on EV production, building the Ioniq 5 alongside five other EVs from Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. However, the South Korean firm quickly realized there wasn’t enough demand for EVs for the plant to produce only EVs, and confirmed it would also be home to several hybrid models. The Sportage Hybrid is the first of them. “This marks a very important event for Kia in the state of Georgia and for our customers across the US,” Kia North America and Kia America president and chief executive Sean Yoon said. “Metaplant in Savannah is our second major investment in Georgia and is a clear testament to our confidence in this state’s future as an automotive powerhouse. We have great confidence that Metaplant will continue the strong momentum that Sportage Hybrid has achieved since updated last year to quickly become one of our highest volume models.” The 2027 Sportage Hybrid comes equipped with a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a 1.49 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack. When accounting for the gas engine and the small electric motor, it delivers a combined 232 hp and 271 lb-ft (367 Nm) of torque. Kia sells the model in both front- and all-wheel drive configurations.
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