A big refresh for the well-established base crossover kicks in with a discount for the base edition.

EARLY sign-ups for the freshened editions of Kia’s Stonic baby crossover can achieve a discount on the base version.

Stipulations about a proposal pulling $2000 from the model’s full recommended retail - creating a sticker of $27,990 - have not been spelled out.

Yesterday’s announcement did not go into duration of the offer, how many examples it applies to and when preorders placed now will be fulfilled.

Kia NZ will only say the updated editions of the car, a slightly raised height crossover design that shares its platform underpinnings with the Rio hatchback, will release in the first quarter of next year.

Which means any time from start of January to end of March.

Kia NZ has previously used this technique to sell cars ahead of arrival, in the past it has required not just registering interest but placing a deposit.

This Stonic is a major update, inside and out, of a product that has been around for five years here, and even longer in some other markets.

Styling alternations aside, it achieves some more equipment and the 1.0-litre turbo engine now steps up in power, from 74kW to 88kW. It is backed up by 48-volt mild-hybrid technology to improve economy. The electric assist isn’t enough to drive on electric power alone.

Kia had been expected to retire the Stonic, but it instead decided to invest in a heavy facelift in case electric alternates did not take off.

A prudent decision in case of here, as EV interest has been low since end of 2023.

In addition to the LX edition, Kia intends to sell the Stonic in a GT-Line trim with the same engine, for $35,990.

Comment by Kia NZ boss Todd McDonald contained in the press release outlining the pitch.

He said the car in its new format delivered as a blend of contemporary design with intuitive technology and in being “built to keep you connected and confident on the road” deserved to be considered alongside premium small products.

Kia NZ has promoted that the car’s driver assist systems have improved, but with notification that one important feature of blind spot collision avoidance assist is just for GT-Line. It gets lane assist, forward collision avoidance assist and a feature that applies the brake after an initial impact.

The safety spruik won’t revive the model’s safety score, retired at start of 2025 due to Sonic’s age. It held five stars from Australasian New Car Assessment Programme before then and has since been unrated.