LAST year could have been considered a ‘setting up’ year for Dinamikjaya Motors Sdn Bhd, the subsidiary of Bermaz Auto (BAuto) handling the Kia brand. With BAuto having suddenly gained two additional brands in such a short space of time, it need to organize the sales and aftersales network first.
Kia already had its 5-year plan ready to roll, with 4 new models to be assembled locally. The first one was the Carnival, which arrived as planned last year (a hybrid version is planned for 2024) and now comes the second one – the Sorento SUV – which was originally planned to appear in 2022 as well.
The new Sorento, also assembled at the Inokom factory in Kedah, is the fourth generation of one of Kia’s more popular models globally. Thus the carmaker’s design studios in Korea, Europe and America were all involved in shaping it adopting the concept of ‘refined boldness’. Elements from earlier generations of the model, which has been on sale since 2003, to retain the SUV DNA while moving to a more refined and sporty image.
