Kia Optima Plug-in Hybrid at Geneva promises OFFICIAL economy of 166 mpg

The new Kia Optima Plug-in Hybrid is getting its European debut at the Geneva Motor Show, and promises to deliver official economy of 166mpg.

The new Kia Optima Plug-in Hybrid – Kia’s first plug-in hybrid – is getting its European debt at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, and Kia are making big claims for its new hybrid setup – a target of official economy and emissions of 166mpg and 37g/km.

The new Optima PHEV comes with a 2.0 litre petrol engine delivering 154bhp mated to an electric motor housed in the six-speed automatic transmission, with a combined output of 202 bhp and 276lb/ft of torque which is good for 0-62mph in 9.4 seconds.

The 9.8kWh battery pack is located behind the back seats (stealing about 40 per cent of the boot space in the process) and is said to be good for 33 miles of pure pure EV driving, with a full charge taking three hours on a UK domestic socket.

The driver gets a choice of modes, with pure EV, Hybrid and Charging (all of which do what they say), and the Optima also garners energy with a recuperative braking system.

The plug-in Optima also gets cosmetic and aerodynamic tweaks, with an active grille, rear diffuser, ‘Eco Plug-in’ badges, new instrument cluster and new alloys.

Kia has also tweaked the plug-in’s suspension to deal with the additional weight of the batteries and motor, and fitted bigger discs to the back (for the same reason).

The Kia Optima Plug-in Hybrid won’t go on sale at Kia’s UK dealers straight after its debut in Geneva, but is expected to be on sale by October. Prices for the plug-in haven’t been revealed, but we’d expect it to start the wrong side of £30k.