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| Top: Cadenza Bottom: K900 |
Kia has officially dropped its two most luxurious sedans in the United States for 2021, the K900 and Cadenza. Both sedans sought to be alternatives to vehicles like the Buick LaCrosse, Toyota Avalon, Lexus ES, Cadillac XTS/CT6, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and BMW 5 and even 7 Series. Tall ambitions!
This decision by Kia comes as no big surprise if you've followed sales figures for both of these models. They sell in very, very, very low numbers, and at least from my observations/travels, I've noticed that most of them seem to be sold in the southern United States. If you want some sales figures, the K900 sold a mere 305 units in the U.S. in 2020 while the Cadenza sold 1,265 units. For comparison sake, the Kia Stinger sold 12,556 units in 2020 - down from 13,884 in 2019. This would make both the Cadenza and K900 two of the most RARE new cars in North America with those sales numbers - even more rare than a Stinger, Genesis or Alfa Romeo product, which you already hardly ever see! I have a hunch that the K900 may even become a collector's item someday... You never know.
This is all not to say that the Kia K900 and Cadenza are bad cars. In fact, its the opposite - they were quite nice! But that's the problem too: outside of their home market of South Korea, they were too nice for their brand. People just don't hear "Kia" and associate "luxury" or "$50,000-$60,000+ executive sedan" with the brand. That's partially why Kia is updating their logo and other branding after all of these years. And of course, part of the blame can be attributed to the popularity of SUVs like the Kia Telluride, overlap with Genesis in the Hyundai-Kia-Genesis portfolio, plus the industry push towards electrification to a degree, too. When pressed with the question "do I want a $50,000 car or SUV", we now clearly see that consumers are far more likely to take the SUV or truck route these days - hey, they may even jump for an EV at that price if they're really bold! And that's before you even get to the whole Kia brand image issue I just mentioned...
For those very same reasons, I speculate the Stinger may not be long for the U.S. market either. I mean, it faces all the same issues theoretically as the K900 and Cadenza in terms of being the "right car paired with the wrong brand". We'll revisit this topic in roughly five years and see where we stand. Until then, have you ever seen a K900 or Cadenza on the road? See below for how I'd buy my ideal Kia K900 and Cadenza while the build tool is still active on Kia's website for them.Farewell Kia luxury sedans. Perhaps we'll see a couple more of you on the road post-new car depreciation hit.
If you want to check out sales figures for these models and others, go to GoodCarBadCar.net. Lots of useful info there. Here's a link to the Cadenza's sales numbers: https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/kia-cadenza-sales-figures-usa-canada/
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| Here's how I'd get my K900 and Cadenza before they're all gone - top of the line and every option. Brown leather is a must. I imagine there's serious incentives on these to bring the price down given their bad sales numbers. |
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Update 3/3/21: Images of the 2022 Kia K8 sedan have leaked on the internet! It features Kia's new logo and design language seen on vehicles such as the new Carnival MPV. While this is essentially the replacement for the Cadenza, and personally I like it, I wouldn't hold my breath about it coming to the U.S... Especially given the Cadenza's astoundingly low sales numbers for 2020 and the fact that when Hyundai pulled the Azera (their large 4-door sedan) out of the U.S. market, it never came back.
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| 2022 Kia K8 |
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