After making its world premiere earlier this year, followed by unveiling of European-spec versions, the 5th generation Kia Sportage has finally made its North American debut. The vehicle will go on sale from the first quarter of 2022 with final prices yet to be announced.
The US-spec Kia Sportage is similar to the international variants having a longer wheelbase unlike the European version which gets a shorter wheelbase. As far as the dimensions are concerned, the new Sportage measures 4,660 mm long, 1,865 mm wide and 1,660 mm tall with a wheelbase of 2,755 mm. According to Kia, these proportions along with the improved packaging brought by the new platform give the compact crossover, a segment-leading headroom, legroom, and an impressive 637 liters of cargo volume.
Inside, the 5th gen Sportage features a curved dual-screen dashboard, with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 12.3-inch infotainment display at the center of dashboard. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are standard along with the latest generation of Kia’s onboard software. Plus drivers and passengers also benefits from Wi-Fi hotspot capability, optional wireless phone charging, and Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant integration.
Kia is yet to reveal powertrain details about the new US-spec Sportage, however according to the preliminary data there will be a new 2.5L four-cylinder engine with an estimated 187hp of power and 241Nm of torque and will come paired to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. The 5th gen Kia Sportage will come standard with front-wheel drive or optional all-wheel drive. A hybrid version will also be introduced later on but Kia hasn’t given details about it either.
Further enhancing the Sportage lineup are the X-Line, X-Pro variants and X-Pro Prestige variants boasting visual enhancements and improved off-roading capabilities such as bigger wheels, roof rails, heated windshield, LED fog lights and multi-terrain drive modes with normal, sport, smart, and snow settings etc. All Sportage variants will come standard with LED headlamps with high beam assist, lane keeping steering assist, rear park distance warning and forward collision avoidance with pedestrian and cyclist detection. A rear camera is standard, but a 360-degree birds-eye camera system is available as an upgrade. Other safety features including Kia’s Blind-Spot View Monitor camera, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, rear cross traffic alert with brake assist and Junction Turning capability for the forward collision avoidance system come online with various trim levels and packages.

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The company's commercial electric vehicle division BrightDrop will create a dedicated dealer network to drive growth, the head of the division said.
While Travis Katz, CEO of BrightDrop, did not disclose how many dealers there will be online, he said it would be smaller than GM's retail chain and focused on urban markets. The seats will be adapted to serve fleet customers such as FedEx and Verizon, to whom GM supplies vehicles under contract.

"The plan is that we are building our own BrightDrop dealer network," Katz said, adding that BrightDrop is in talks with existing GM dealers but may use others.

BrightDrop is a key growth market for GM, which has said it plans to double its revenue by 2030.

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Chinese electric vehicle startup Xpeng has released updates to its semi-autonomous driving system in a bid to counter Tesla in China. Xpeng has released XPILOT 3.5, the latest version of its Advanced Driver Assistance System, or ADAS. This refers to a driving software system with some autonomous functions, but where a driver is still required.

In XPILOT 3.5, the company will launch a feature called City NGP, which stands for Navigational Guided Pilot. The system allows Xpeng vehicles to change lanes, accelerate or decelerate, and overtake, exit and exit highway vehicles. The system was previously designed for highways only, but now Xpeng will release this feature for urban driving. XPILOT 3.5 will be available to owners of this year's Xpeng P5. The update will be available to customers in the first half of 2022.

Xpeng has also released a new charger for its vehicles. The company says that in just five minutes of charging with the new charger, the car battery will have a range of up to 200 kilometers.

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