Kia Telluride XPro Arrives in The Big Apple After 3,200-Mile Journey to Bid Adieu to 2022

While it will not be the first to celebrate, (that honor falls upon Eastern Australia), NYC is the most televised that night and Kia will be there.

Kia America arrived in the Big Apple after traveling some 3,200 miles (5,150 km) across the U.S. in its flagship SUV, the Kia Telluride XPro. Though the South Korean mass producer of automobiles may not be celebrating the dawn of a new year as much as it is bidding good riddance to 2022.

The company, from an overall sales perspective, experienced a banner 2022. In fact, third-quarter results were quite remarkable given what is happening in manufacturing around this post-pandemic world. The same ol' song and dance has been on the worldwide jukebox for a couple of years, with lyrics of supply chain issues and parts shortages.

Despite the conditions, those Q3 numbers revealed Kia's record sales streak still has legs. The company sold over 750,000 vehicles, with green and recreational units such as the Telluride leading the way. Sales on home soil reached 132,768 vehicles and 619,020 abroad, representing a 9.9% increase over 2022, with the company expected to maintain that momentum going into Q4,

However, the dark side of those impressive sales numbers was the actual realized operating income, which fell by an astonishing 65.6% from the previous quarter and 42.1% from 2022, despite an increase of 5.9% in revenue.

So what happened? The company was hit with the dreaded recall bug, with the big elephant in the room being the fallout from the recall of the cars equipped with the Theta 2 engine dating back several years. The company took a hit of $1.2 billion (1,13 billion euros) as a result.

That dark quarter may repeat itself to a lesser degree in Q4 in terms of money but with all the accompanying headaches from additional recalls.

Kia has had several issues thus far in the last three months of the year that will further amp up the volume of the company's 'Adios' to 2022.

As September turned into October, the company continued to voice concerns about the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed into law in August, which could potentially impact U.S. sales.

In mid-October, the company recalled Sorento and K5 sedan models because of a transmission issue, followed by a recall of 2008 and 2009 model year Sportages over engine compartment fires.

Then just a month ago, Kia reinstituted a previous recall of 2017 and 2018 Kia Niro PHEVs over a fire risk after dealers performed the original repair with an incorrect relay.