A trail of clues points to the Hyundai Motor Group prepping a flagship electric sedan for Kia, a full-size four-door a little larger than the departing Stinger with more power than the recently arrived EV6 GT. A report in South Korea’s ET News (translated) has more details about the project said to be codenamed GT1 and due on the market for 2025.
The car is said to sit on an evolution of the current e-GMP platform called eM designed as an Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA). The IMA is akin to Volkswagen’s MQX and MEX platforms, wherein motors, batteries and electronics can be rearranged to create a wide range of vehicles. At its most potent, the GT1 would house a 113.2-kilowatt-hour battery juicing two motors that together produce 604 horsepower, and that could get between 700 and 800 kilometers (435 to 497 miles) on a charge on Europe’s WLTP regime. Could that interest fans of the Kia Stinger (pictured) denied a second generation of the critical darling?
This isn’t coming from nowhere — Hyundai’s publicized developments such as the IMA and eM platform. In touting the future tech last October, we were told the eM bones would bring up to a 50% improvement in range compared to the Ioniq 5. In Europe, the electric crossover is rated at as much as 614 kilometers on a charge. And last year at the Chengdu Auto Show, Chinese outlet Autohome spoke to Kia’s regional head of marketing, Quan Yiquan, whose translated comments to the outlet were, “In 2024, a smart full-size SUV [the EV9] will be launched, equipped with the most advanced L3 level ADAS system, and the longest cruising range can reach 700 kilometers. In addition, we will launch two SUVs and one GT model to further enrich Kia’s pure electric product matrix and bring more diversified choices to Chinese consumers.” It’s believed one of the two SUVs will be called the EV4, the GT model — for global consumption model — is project GT1.
ET News said the sedan’s basic specs have been given the green light. That includes the 113.2-kWh battery. which, if it were on the market now, would be the largest battery in a sedan, outdoing the 112-kWh unit in the Lucid Air. The motors are said to come in outputs of 215 hp (160 kW), 268 hp (200 kW), and 336 hp (250 kW). The top trim would pair a 268-hp motor with a 336-hp motor. That would best 576 hp in the EV6 GT. At least one lower trim of the coming GT1 would combine the two least potent motors for 430 hp.
The Stinger name isn’t mentioned in the South Korean report. That hasn’t stopped many from imagining what’s ahead as a potential Stinger revival in all but name.
