More electrified Kia GTs on the way

The supercar-rivalling Kia EV6 GT revealed overnight is only the first of a series of high-performance electric cars from the Korean brand.

And the subtlest of hints have been dropped that some models in the rapidly expanding Kia electrified line-up could have performance variants that push beyond the 2021 Kia EV6 GT crossover.

But it’s also been made clear the Aussie-bound Kia EV6 will not replace the current performance flagship of the Australian line-up, the Kia Stinger GT, which resonates here with its rear-wheel drive sedan proportions and twin-turbo V6 internal combustion engine.

The assurance on that came from no less an authority than Kia’s global president Ho Sung Song, after being asked if the EV6 could be a viable replacement for Stinger during a digital press conference yesterday.

“In the meantime we continue to provide the Stinger in the Australian market in the next coming years too,” he said.

Rolled out as the flagship of the EV6 range, the GT is a dual-motor, 430kW/740Nm, all-wheel drive vehicle capable of accelerating to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds, whirring on to a top speed of 260km/h and yet still capable of a claimed 410km range between battery recharges.

The EV6 GT steals a march on the similarly sized Hyundai IONIQ 5, which is also based on the new Hyundai Motor Group E-GMP architecture, but does not have a GT-matching version as part of its line-up. At least, not yet.

Kia plans to launch seven E-GMP-based EVs by 2026 and another four based on existing models.

Artur Martins, Kia’s head of global brand and customer experience, told media a GT would be part of many of these model line-ups as the Korean company sought to emphasise the exciting driving experience electrification can deliver.

“GT is an important element of our strategy moving forward,” he said. “We had it already in the internal combustion engines in Stinger and some of the products in the portfolio like K5 and Forte so it’s part of our strategy today.

“It will be an important part of our strategy moving forward.

“EVs … were seen in the past as boring cars, not very attractive from the design perspective and not very exciting to drive.

“We want Kia to be perceived as an exciting brand and regardless of whether you are driving an EV or an internal combustion engine, we want that DNA to be brought across all the products of the brand – at least ones that make sense, of course.”

Despite Kia showing the EV6 defeating a slew of supercars and the Lamborghini Urus super-SUV in a drag race in a promotional video, Martins backed away from the “high-performance” tag for the EV6 GT.

“It’s not so much about high performance, but really exciting driving experience,” he insisted.

“You know you can benefit a lot from the power of EV cars mainly with the torque. Basically, except probably in Germany, the rest of the world is limited for speed and that experience in being able to overtake faster in terms of safety is also something that consumers expect.

“This is part of our strategy also for the future product.”

Asked if the GT could become an even more powerful vehicle than currently, Martins answered very specifically: “In this case, in the EV6 case, the GT version will be the most powerful version. We don’t believe you need to have much more performance than this.

“We believe this power is more than enough and this direction is more or less the way we want to go.”

So no more power for the EV6. But we’ll have to wait and see what else Kia elects to deliver as its EV model range expands.