Kia Australia has been forced to stop taking orders of its hot-selling Sportage GT-Line flagship mid-size SUV as demand outpaces supply.
Speaking to CarsGuide, a Kia Australia spokesperson said the stop-sale was due to “component shortages impacting supply of Sportage GT-Line variants” and that “orders have been temporarily paused until production increases”.
As for the remaining grades, customers will still need to wait up to six months from ordering for delivery, but for more accurate timing, Kia recommends contacting your local dealer.
GT-Line grades make up around 40 per cent of overall Sportage sales, which explains the 44.4 per cent drop in Kia’s mid-size SUV sales from February to March.
Last year, Kia sold 18,792 examples of its Sportage after launching a new-generation model in late 2021, but due to the GT-Line’s stop-sale, the South Korean brand could struggle to reach those figures again in 2023.
The Sportage came in fourth by sales volume behind the Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5 and Mitsubishi Outlander, but ahead of the Hyundai Tucson, Subaru Forester and MG HS in the mid-size SUV class in 2022.
So far this year however, Kia’s Sportage is down 14.9 per cent to 3348 sales, placing it sixth behind the CX-5 (6706), Outlander (6009), RAV4 (5851), Subaru Forester (4960) and Hyundai Tucson (4493) in Australia’s most popular vehicle segment.
However, the Sportage is still Kia Australia’s most popular model, slightly ahead of the Sorento large SUV (3165), Carnival people mover (3038) and recently refreshed Seltos crossover (2137).
For reference, the Sportage GT-Line is available in two flavours – one petrol and one diesel – with a sticker price of $49,750 before on-road costs and $52,750 respectively and makes use of either a 132kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbo-petrol or 137kW/416Nm 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine.
The Sportage range, however, kicks off from $32,795 for the manual, two-wheel-drive S that features a 115kW/192Nm 2.0-litre petrol engine.
However, the GT-Line is not expected to sit atop the Sportage tree for long, as a hybrid-version of the mid-size SUV is earmarked for launch later this year to take the electrified versions of the Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander head-on.
Keyword: Out of stock! 2023 Kia Sportage GT-Line temporarily taken off sale as Subaru Forester and Hyundai Tucson rivals overtake