Kia Unveils Optima Hybrid Sedan

In brief: Kia Motors premiered the hybrid version of its up-scale Optima sedan at the LA Auto Show (36/40mpg city/highway).

Vehicle in the news

Make/Model: Optima
Manufacturer: Kia

The word

The Optima is the up-scale sedan Kia introduced earlier and now its hybrid version, made primarily for the North American market, has debuted at the LA show. The car gets a combined 38mpg (36/40mpg).

The car has a 40.7% fuel efficiency improvement over its gasoline-only counterpart Optima with a 0-62mph acceleration of 9.2 seconds and 121mph top speed.

It uses the same 2.4L Theta II engine as the conventional Optima, but mated to an electric drive system as a hybrid, of course. The car runs in all-electric mode until it reaches a few miles per hour, when the hybrid system kicks in.

And so ...

For the vehicle's size (it's a mid-sized sedan), the Optima Hybrid gets good mileage and is comparable to the Ford Focus Hybrid.

Photo credits: Kia