South Korean carmaker Kia Motors has launched its new SUV - the Mohave - in the Middle Eastern market.

Kia claims that the Mohave is the most powerful SUV manufactured by the company and the first full-size seven-seater 4WD powered by a choice of 274 hp V6, or 340 hp V8 petrol engines. The vehicle comes in a selection of eight exterior and three interior colours.

The Mohave is designed to appeal to buyers of traditional SUVs while offering them greater sophistication with higher performance, fuel economy and towing ability, Kia said.

Kia plans to sell 121,000 mid-size SUV-type vehicles in the Middle East and Africa region this year.

"Mohave takes us into a whole new sector of the vehicle market, offering consumers seven-seated capability and V6 power for the first time in a Kia SUV," said Samir Tayeh, president of Al Majid Motors - Kia.

Kia's market research anticipates that annual global demand for mid-size SUV-type vehicles will reach 2.7 million this year, including 121,000 sales in the Middle East and Africa region.

"Sales of this class of vehicle are expected to rise by 15 percent over the next three years in the region to total 139,000 units in 2011," said Tayeh.

"In UAE, we are targeting Mohave sales of 400 units this year and 750 each year thereafter to claim a significant segment share." 

With Mohave, Kia has built on its SUV reputation first established by the popular five-seater Sorento model. Mohave is longer, wider, taller and developed on a brand-new platform with a 2895 mm wheelbase ladder-frame chassis. 

Consequently, Mohave is 290 mm longer, 30 mm wider and 5 mm taller than Sorento and features a wheelbase extended by 185 mm to ensure that two adults can be comfortably accommodated on the third row seats.  Following modern design trends, the track is increased by 50 mm (20 mm more than the body), pushing the wheels towards the vehicle’s outer extremity for a bold and secure road stance. 

The interior offers generous head, leg and shoulder room in all three seating rows, plus versatile people/cargo carrying combinations with a 50/50 percent split third row seat and 60/40 percent split second row seat, and luggage capacity that ranges from 350 litres (all seats upright) to a maximum of 2765 litres with both the third and second row seats folded flat, said the company. - TradeArabia News Service