New Zealand motorists are set to get the safest variants of the yet to be released Kia Stinger, which will hit the New Zealand market early next year.

A 5 star safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) has been awarded to the Si, EX, GT Line, GT Sport and GT variants of the Stinger.

The Kia Stinger 200S and 330S variants won’t be available in New Zealand, but are already in the Australian market, and have only achieved a 3 star rating.

AA Motoring Services General Manager Stella Stocks says she’s pleased that only the safest versions of the Stinger will be introduced here.

“There are plenty of safe vehicles in New Zealand for motorists to choose from at every price point, so it doesn’t make much sense for manufacturers to introduce a vehicle that isn’t up there in terms of safety,” she says.

The lower spec variants lack autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane keep assist, which reduced their safety assist scores by 25 percent. Their full width crash test scores also suffered because the models didn’t have rear seat belt pre-tensioners and load limiters, which help manage the forces of a crash.

A 5 star ANCAP rating was also awarded to the 2016 Jaguar F-Pace for its all-wheel-drive variants.

It comes equipped with all three grades of autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane keep assist, roll stability systems and electronic stability control (ESC) as standard.

The full list of ANCAP’s vehicle safety ratings, other vehicle safety information and the specifications of the rated vehicles are available online at ancap.co.nz or rightcar.govt.nz.

ANCAP is supported by all Australian motoring clubs, the New Zealand Automobile Association, the Australian Government, the New Zealand Government, Australian state and territory governments, the Victorian Transport Accident Commission, NRMA Insurance and the FIA Foundation.