DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: Kia GT coupe some time away

Kia’s President and Chief Design Officer Peter Schreyer has poured cold water on suggestions the Korean brand will soon launch a coupe to partner its all-new Stinger GT flagship sports sedan.

Speaking at the Detroit auto show launch of the five-door Stinger GT, Schreyer told motoring.com.au that the company would concentrate on the launch and impact of the new car before adding other variants to the Kia/Stinger line-up.

However, Schreyer did join Aussie Kia exec Damien Meredith in categorising the Stinger as a "game-changer".

“I think this [Stinger] is a big step [for the brand],” Schreyer said.

“We have to see how this car now comes to the market,” he said.

The German- born design chief said the Stinger presented a stronger business opportunity for the brand than a production revision of the Stinger GT4 coupe concept rolled out in 2014.

“I think it [Stinger GT] is the safer option if there was an option… But there was never the discussion shall we do one or the other. As soon as we had this car, that was the thing the company wanted to do.

“If you look at it from a business case perspective, a small two-door sports car will never sell in numbers like a big five-door sporty sedan. There is no way to compare…”

Schreyer would not be drawn on details regarding a proposed coupe.

“I don’t want to answer this question. We have a super looking, great car and you want to know what I do next — and I cannot talk about this,” he jibed good-humouredly.

motoring.com.au's Kia sources suggest that a decision on a coupe using the same rear-drive platform as the Stinger GT, which is understood to share its rear-drive platform with Hyundai's upcoming G70 mid-size sedan, is still some time away. It is therefore likely such a car would not arrive Down Under until around 2020.

Nonetheless, Schreyer is bullish about the effect Stinger GT will have on the Kia brand both globally and in Australia.

“I think it will add a lot of credibility and sporty image to the Kia brand.”

He says halo effect will not be enough, however – it must also sell.

“I think it should do both. It will have global appeal -- this is another strong statement,” he said.

He took exception to the suggestion the car was a departure for Kia – especially in a global market eschewing sedans for SUVs and crossovers.

“There are markets that have more sedans and markets that have less sedans. If we were to introduce an SUV you would have been asking where is the sedan? OK, it’s at the top end of what we [Kia] have in most markets but to me it’s not a departure -- a departure means it would neglect everything else that was done before.

“It’s a new way of bringing a lot of attention to performance -- along with what [performance development chief] Albert Bierman is doing.

“We are a volume brand but if you look at the single products they are — in quality, in design, in performance — moving up towards something with a kind of premium feeling to them,” Schreyer said.