New 2021 Kia Sorento Hybrid Production Begins And It Might Come To Canada

• The 2021 Sorento will be the first of its kind to get hybrid technology.

• Its all-new platform has made this possible.

• Production began in Korea last week. It will start in the US shortly.

The Kia Sorento has been part of our automotive landscape for nearly two decades, since 2002. Since then, more than 3 million have been sold which makes it a very successful product. A hybrid version of the all-new 2021 Sorento would surely help its future prospects.

Last week, Kia announced that the production of the new 2021 Kia Sorento Hybrid had begun in Korea. They also indicated that it will also enter production at Kia’s West Point, Georgia production plant before long. We immediately reached out to Kia Canada to see if we could poke and prod them for future product details. The answer was the typical “we cannot elaborate on future products” however the response ended with a line about the industry turning towards electrification and that Kia’s engineers are studying all viable options for the future.

We’ll take that as a “there’s a good chance it will come,” especially if it’s US-built. The 2021 Kia Sorento Hybrid includes a turbocharged 1.6-litre T-GDi 4-cylinder engine paired with a 1.49 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack and 44.2 kW electric motor. Output is rated at 230 ps and 350 Nm of torque, or 227 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of torque.

Sales of the 4^th generation Kia Sorento are planned for the 3^rd quarter of 2020 for Europe. After this, it will hit global markets. A plug-in hybrid version is also in the works. Production of the PHEV starts later in 2020, in Korea.