Stinger – Alex Calinescu

In the summer of 2018, Kia Motors has unveiled their latest sports sedan, the Stinger GT! The Stinger is a Gran Turismo four door sports sedan which is meant to envision a sense of luxury performance. The Stinger is packed with a 365 horsepower twin-turbo motor under the hood. The car has been showcased on the British television show “The Grand Tour” featuring Jeremy Clarkson. The Stinger has also been exposed on the magazine Gentleman’s Quarterly (GQ).

Screen Shot 2018-08-30 at 5.30.27 PM.png — 2018 Stinger GT2 in New York City

Kia has endeavored in using Augmented Reality as a way of virtually introducing the car to the public. Kia has formed a sponsorship with FaceBook Messenger which users can message Kia Motors on FaceBook and have the option to “summon” the Kia Stinger in their own driveway. The Messenger application not only utilizes Augmented Reality but Artificial Intelligence as well. Kia has a robot assistant called “Kian” through Messenger which can help you contact and locate the nearest dealership. The assistant can also take questions such as “Which car is equipped with….?”. The A.I assistant can disclose pricing information as well as show a gallery of photos.

Through the use of Social Media, Kia has attempted in simplifying the mobile shopping experience.

Kian is able to inform potential customers of the specifications of the vehicle they are interested in. The A.I bot can reveal details such as horsepower, warranty information, features, color choice. Kia states that their bot has aided in the selling of 22,000 Kia Niros’.

In my perspective, I believe that Kia has done a fantastic job at introducing their breakthrough design to the public through Messenger using Augmented Reality. When people think of Kia they don’t expect anything other than an affordable reliable car. The Stinger GT is an attempt to shift people’s perception that they are more than an ordinary car brand. The Stinger features four trim levels; Base, Premium, GT, GT1 and top trim GT., The Premium is priced around $39,000, while the GT2 trim which is the most exclusive, comes in at around $55,000 when optioned with All-wheel-drive.