Kia Sorento secures a win at the ‘iF Design Award’ for the first time.

• ‘iF Design Award’ for third-generation Kia Sorento
• All-new Sorento on sale across Europe in March 2015

Kia Motors continues to reel in awards for its outstanding design. Now the Kia Sorento, the brand’s flagship SUV, has received the prestigious ‘iF Design Award’ for the first time.

The judges of the globally-recognised design awards programme honoured the third generation of the Sorento, which goes on sale across Europe in March 2015, with an award in the ‘Product’ category. As well as awarding the car for the overall quality of its design, the jury rated the car on criteria such as finish, degree of innovation, environmental impact and safety.

The all-new Kia Sorento is the seventh Kia model to secure an iF Design Award. In every year since 2010, at least one of the coveted awards has been scooped by Kia Motors, with previous winners from the brand including the Kia Venga, Sportage, Optima, Picanto, pro_cee’d and Soul.

“I am very proud of this award for the Kia Sorento because it is recognition of the great advance in quality we have succeeded in achieving in this model,” said Peter Schreyer, President and Chief Design Officer of Kia Motors Corporation and Hyundai Motor Company.

“The Kia Sorento unites the classic poise of an SUV with a premium look and feel that is particularly tangible in the cabin. It offers the very highest design quality and excellent value for money. This is largely the achievement of our international design teams – which is also why I am so delighted with this award.”

The new Kia Sorento was developed by the Kia design team in Namyang, Korean, assisted by the Kia Design Centres in Frankfurt, Germany and Irvine, California.

Great versatility, high-tech features and new all-wheel-drive system

The new Kia Sorento is a stylish and practical SUV with exceptional versatility and practicality. The smoother, swept-back profile and deeply sculpted surfaces give the Kia Sorento a lithe, elegant appearance. The spacious interior follows the horizontal lines of the overall design concept and delivers a luxurious look and feel with top-quality materials throughout the cabin.

The new Kia Sorento, which is available with five or seven seats, has a longer wheelbase and provides more passenger room than its predecessor. The luggage area is larger, and thanks to the sliding, 60:40-split seat row it is even more versatile, holding up to 1,732 litres.

The Kia Sorento has a powerful and efficient 200 ps (147 kW) 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine, while four-wheel drive versions are fitted with Kia’s new Dynamax™ All-Wheel-Drive system with torque vectoring.

High-tech specifications and a range of premium features, including the 360-degree Around View Monitor and smart parking system make it easy to manoeuvre and park. Buyers can also choose from the latest safety assistance systems, from lane departure warning to rear cross traffic alert and traffic sign recognition, through to adaptive cruise control.

The iF product design award

Since it was launched in 1953, the annual iF Design Award has become one of the world’s most important prizes for excellence in design. The award has its origins in the ‘Formgerechte Industrieerzeugnisse’ (Good Industrial Design) product shows initiated by the Hannover Messe, and is now one of the world’s largest design competitions.

The iF Design Award is presented in five disciplines. In 2015, companies from 53 countries participated in the iF design awards programme, submitting 4,783 designs. The new Kia Sorento was honoured in the ‘Automobiles / Vehicles / Bikes’ category.

The official presentation ceremony for the 2015 iF Design Awards will take place on 27 February 2015 in Munich, during the Munich Creative Business Week. A selection of the winning products will also go on display at the iF design exhibition in Hamburg's HafenCity. Additionally, all winners can be seen on the iF website, www.ifdesign.de, and can also be viewed on the ‘iF design’ smartphone app.