Kia Philippines Just Gained the Upper Hand in the Korean Car Price War

It looks like the top two Korean brands in the country are about to instigate a price war with each other. After launching its game-changing Soluto sub-compact sedan, Kia found its thunder stolen by its mechanical twin, the Hyundai Reina less than 24 hours later. Since then, these two have been engaging in a peso tug-of-war. For the next few days, it looks like Kia Philippines may have the upper hand.

For the Manila International Auto Show, Kia Philippines is discounting their entire line-up (sans the newly-launched Forte, Stinger, and K2500 truck) and that brings their price lower than their Hyundai counterparts. Let’s see how they stack up:

• Hyundai Reina 1.4 GL 5 M/T – P 638,000 (up P 40,000 from its introductory price)
• Hyundai Reina 1.4 GL 4 A/T – P 688,000 (up P 40,000 from its introductory price)
• Kia Soluto 1.4 LX 5 M/T – P 625,000 (P 610,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Soluto 1.4 LX 4 A/T – P 675,000 (P 660,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Soluto 1.4 EX 5 M/T – P 685,000 (P 670,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Soluto 1.4 EX 4 A/T – P 735,000 (P 720,000 with MIAS offer)

With the exception of the top-of-the-line Soluto 1.4 EX 4 A/T, it looks like Kia has pretty much beat the Reina in terms of pricing after Hyundai opted to increase their pricing by P 40,000 starting this April. Oh, and remember that the Soluto is the one that’s got things like Apple CarPlay and reverse sensors as standard equipment.

• Kia Picanto 1.0 LX M/T – P 590,000 (P 575,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Picanto 1.0 LX A/T – P 635,000 (P 620,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Picanto 1.2 EX M/T – P 700,000 (P 685,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia PIcanto 1.2 EX A/T – P 745,000 (P 730,000 with MIAS offer)

Things get interesting as we move on to the compact SUV category:

• Hyundai Tucson 2.0 GL 6 M/T 2WD – P 1,308,000
• Hyundai Tucson 2.0 GL 6 A/T 2WD – P 1,378,000
• Hyundai Tucson 2.0 CRDi GL – P 1,645,000
• Hyundai Tucson 2.0 CRDi GLS – P 1,835,000
• Kia Sportage 2.0 LX 4x2 Gas – P 1,290,000 (P 1,260,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Sportage 2.0 LX 4x2 Diesel – P 1,545,000 (P 1,515,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Sportage 2.0 EX 4x2 Diesel – P 1,820,000 (P 1,790,000 with MIAS offer)

See? In every single variant it looks like Kia’s killing the Tucson by adjusting their price making them significantly cheaper than their Hyundai counterparts.

• Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRDi GLS – P 2,338,000
• Kia Sorento 2.2 EX A/T 4x2 – P 1,895,000 (P 1,875,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Sorento 2.2 EX A/T 4x4 – P 2,195,000 (P 2,175,000 with MIAS offer)

Okay, granted the Sorento’s getting long-in-the-tooth compared to the Santa Fe, but take note: for the price of the Hyundai, you can actually get the 4x4 variant of the Kia and still have change left over. Getting the drift?

Finally, there’s the Grand Carnival:

• Kia Grand Carnival LX 11-seater – P 1,995,000 (P 1,965,000 with MIAS offer)
• Kia Grand Carnival EX 7-seater – P 2,295,000 (P 2,265,000 with MIAS offer)