The 2018 Stinger Sportback has been awarded the first-ever new J.D. Power Engineering Award.

The 2018 KIA Stinger won the Highest-Rated All-New Vehicle award, making KIA the first OEM to be recognized by J.D Powers for this award.

“The Stinger is the result of years of hard work and dedication from the industry’s top designers and engineers. We turned what was once considered a dream car into a startling and enthralling new reality,” said Michael Cole, Chief Operating Officer & EVP, Kia Motors America. “Being the first auto manufacturer to receive this prestigious award from J.D. Power, an organization known for excellence in research, is a true testament to Kia’s ‘Give It Everything’ philosophy.”

The award is a combination of two different J.D. Power studies. The first is the Initial Quality Study (IQS), which measures new-vehicle quality by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles as seen through consumer evaluations during the first 90 days of ownership. The second is the Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) award, which measures new-vehicle owners’ overall satisfaction with their vehicle within the first 90 days. The different categories that were evaluated include exterior, interior, storage, audio, seats, heating and ventilation, driving, dynamics, powertrain, visibility, and fuel economy.

“This is the first time J.D. Power has analyzed customer data in order to identify a remarkable achievement by a vehicle development team,” said Doug Betts, senior vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power. “This is feedback on both the quality and the performance of the vehicle taken straight from the owners of the vehicle. What we are seeing is a team of designers, R&D engineers, and a manufacturing team, that are working very effectively together to launch something quite exceptional.”