Kia Borrego Goes Bye-Bye

Kia Motors will be retiring the young Borrego SUV for 2011.  Though the model may return thereafter, high fuel prices and a sharp shift away from sport-utes have forced the Korean automaker to pull out of the SUV wars in America.  The Borrego was released for ’09 as a luxury SUV, offering a spiffy interior, four-wheel-drive, a 6-spd. AT, and a 337 hp 4.6 L V-8.  The Borrego’s starting price was nearly $27,000, with full-spec models hitting up to $42,000.  High fuel prices have contributed to the Borrego’s poor sales performance: it was intended to sell 20,000 units in the US, but has failed to hit half that number.