Kia Is Working On A 604-HP EV Flagship Replacement For the Stinger: Report

Oh, Kia Stinger. Why did we forsake thee? Well, there are actually a few reasons, like buyers being turned off by the relatively low price the Stinger commanded, thanks to a lingering stigma about the badge. The worst, though, were the dealers, who used that (not) legendary Kia dealer customer service to mark them up while treating them like unobtainium, causing buyers to walk. Sales numbers suffered, and now it’s gone. We might not have to wait long for a replacement, if a report from Korean outlet ETNews is to be believed.

The Kia Amanti Was Basically a Knock-Off Mercedes

According to them, the EV6 GT won’t be carrying the performance torch for Kia going forward. According to the report, Kia is readying a flagship performance EV to replace the Stinger. And if the specs hold up, it’ll be one of the most powerful EVs on the market.

Codenamed GT1, it’s supposed to ride on the next generation of Hyundai’s current e-GMP platform that the EV6 and Ioniq 5/6 called eM. The platform is said to be designed with Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA). This fancy car engineering mumbo jumbo just means the tech, motors, and batteries of the platform can be rearranged to create different models from the same platform. It’s supposed to be a big car, classified as a large car the same size as the Kia K8 (we knew it as the Cadenza).

The alleged specs are impressive. Starting with the battery, ETNews says Kia is shooting for a capacity of 113.2 kWh. If that holds up, this “GT1” will have a more powerful battery than Lucid’s Air (112 kWh), Mercedes’s EQS (107.8 kWh), and Tesla’s Model S (100 kWh). In its most powerful dual motor configuration, the GT1 will have some serious performance and range: 603 hp and a range between 700 and 800 km on the Europes WLPT scale, which works out to 435-497 miles, though probably less with American testing.

ETNews says that Kia has already signed off on the specs, and the company has essentially confirmed that some of these things are coming. Hyundai has been touting the IMA platform and its increased range since late last year. And translated comments from Kia’s head of marketing Quan Yiquan at the 2022 Chengdu Auto Show in China nearly confirm that a GT EV model is coming along with two SUVs — at least for products coming to China.

I reached out to Kia to see if they could comment on this and will update if they respond. At a minimum, it seems Kia’s head is in the right place.