Kia's GT performance sub-brand has expanded at a pace that few rivals can match, reaching ten standalone derivatives in little more than a decade since the Proceed GT arrived without fanfare. The division now sits as a more restrained counterpart to Hyundai's increasingly extroverted N models, and its leadership is clear about the philosophy that separates the two.
Speaking at the Hyundai Motor Group's Namyang research and development facility in South Korea, R&D boss Manfred Harrer said technologies such as piped-in exhaust notes and synthetic gearshifts should amplify rather than replace the driving experience. Kia does fit its own Virtual Gear Shift system to every GT model, but the cars are tuned to feel softer and more authentic than their Hyundai N siblings, with Harrer describing the performance of the new EV3 and EV4 GTs as something owners can naturally enjoy day to day.
The approach reflects the reality of how Hyundai Motor Group develops vehicles. Engineers work across platforms rather than for individual brands, so the team responsible for the suspension rates and torque split of the composed EV6 GT is the same one behind the more extreme Ioniq 5 N. That shared engineering base has not stopped Kia from setting its own character, however, and the output figures show where the brand is placing its emphasis.
The EV6 GT produces 641bhp, enough to outpace some Ferraris, while the EV9 GT SUV offers 502bhp, roughly matching a recent Range Rover Sport SVR. But the models that best represent the sub-brand's intentions are the more modest ones: the new EV5 GT, a rival to the Skoda Enyaq vRS, makes 302bhp, and the EV4 and EV3 GTs produce 286bhp. Those are conservative numbers in the electric era, and they signal that Kia is not chasing the likes of the Mercedes-AMG A45 or pushing into limited-slip differentials as some go-faster Stellantis EVs now do.
Harrer frames the Virtual Gear Shift system as a set of indicators to help drivers cope with endless power rather than a pretend gearbox to be worked up and down for its own sake. The result is a formula built around real-world usability, a gratifying tightness in the suspension and restrained design cues, backed by enough comfort for daily driving.
So far the GT cars have fulfilled that brief almost too well, being quick and assured but undemanding and rounded. The missing ingredient, and the headroom for the sub-brand to explore, concerns genuine excitement and leading-edge dynamic polish when the moment arises. Harrer is open to the idea of a further tier above the current range, suggesting a GT R level could follow the direction many car makers are taking, though he would prefer first to discuss a dedicated model that shows what GT stands for.
That raises the prospect of a return for the Stinger GT with an electric powertrain, a possibility Harrer would not be drawn on given Hyundai Motor Group's careful management of its messaging. Harrer, who arrived in Korea with a background at Porsche and BMW, quickly reorganised the previously siloed Hyundai N team so its expertise could spread across other model lines, and he is seen as the figure who could make such a model happen.
The history of the sub-brand shows how far it has come. Kia introduced the Proceed GT in 2013 as an early attempt at the performance formula, with a sub-eight-second sprint to 62mph and a precise manual gearbox, though it was never going to tempt buyers away from a Golf GTI. The 242bhp Optima GT followed four years later, notable as the first warm Kia to benefit from oversight by Albert Biermann, the former head of BMW's M division. The Stinger GT S then arrived in 2017 with a 365bhp V6 and a propensity for oversteer, drawing comparisons with the E39 M5 and winning owners over despite a mixed result in a comparison test against the Jaguar XE and BMW 4 Series.