Kia America is now fully geared up and prepared to get our eager hands on Rebelle Rally 2022, the Iconic women-only off-road rally full of excitement and dirt-defying adrenaline. Kia is set to campaign for the third year in a row, this time with the added boost and trail-trouncing expertise of the 2023 Sportage X-Pro. Last year two 2022 Kia Sorento PHEVs crossed the line into full-earned podium spots in the X-cross class, as skilled driver Verena Mei and navigator Tana White finished with second-place honors.
Emily Miller is the esteemed founder of the Rebelle Rally and is thrilled to welcome Kia back with the Sportage X-Pro. This course offers up terrain of incredibly challenging and hard-to-predict nature, and all of us here at Jim Butler Kia of St Louis are looking forward to seeing how the Sportage X-pro can handle this year’s constantly-changing demands. The modified version of the Sportage X-Pro will be equipped with standard off-road hardware and deriving power from a 2.5-liter Inline 4 engine paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission, nailing down 187 horsepower.
This is going to be a 10-day long course that the entrants are dealing with here, and so the beginning of the defensive gear will provide B.F. Goodrich all-terrain tires and 17-inch wheels for a minimum 8.3 inches of ground clearance, along with an active on-demand all-wheel-drive system which distributes power between the front and rear wheels depending on what current driving conditions are like. We can’t get excited enough about sharing the love of organic and reaction-based driving with the ultimate challenges of precise navigation needed to finish!
This is a unique and demanding event that sees competitors returning to “base camp” at the end of each stage, with teams consistently needing to clear mandatory tech inspection. The 5th-anniversary edition of the Rebelle Rally launched the Electrified Designation, where PHEV and EV vehicles push their limits by competing in their respective 4x4 or X-Cross class with designation on the scoring, vehicles, and recognition in media features. This is the ultimate proving ground for drivers and their vehicles and was built as the utmost in intensified long distance from the beginning.
Snagging up the Team Spirit Award will see $5,000 donated to the charity of the team’s choosing, and an official announcement at the final gala dinner. It also could be quite interesting and esteemed to take home the “Bone Stock Award”, which is defined as the best in not having any modifications beyond off-road tires to handle the massive demands of this rough stuff. We are proud to have a vehicle on deck and ready to go as far as this heart-pounding and women-themed event is concerned, and expect every fellow geared-up team of girls to give 110% and tremendous shares of talent.
