The Kia Stinger is the kind of factor automobile lovers lengthy for however automakers are normally reluctant to construct for worry that there aren’t sufficient automobile lovers.
It’s a rear-wheel-drive (RWD) or, optionally, an all-wheel-drive (AWD) sport sedan with severe efficiency chops and area for the children. It’s a household automobile that may throw down. It’s a sensible commuter with an attractive secret. It’s Bruce Wayne as a automobile.
In case you may’t inform, the KBB editorial workforce loves it. Our skilled reviewer Colin Ryan in contrast it to the Audi A5 Sportback and BMW 4 Collection Gran Coupe — automobiles with far greater worth tags. He mentioned it “pushes the boundaries of what to anticipate from Kia.”
It didn’t final lengthy. Kia created it for the 2019 mannequin 12 months and, sadly, introduced its retirement simply 5 years later. There are nonetheless a number of on seller heaps — if a superb sport sedan with a 10-year guarantee and an inexpensive worth tempts you.
We feared that the quick lifetime of the Stinger meant Kia would by no means try one thing prefer it once more. A brand new report says we’d like not worry.
South Korean Press Studies Say an Inheritor Is Coming
A brand new report in South Korea’s ET Information says Kia will debut a non secular inheritor to the Stinger’s mystique. A translation of the article says it may “be launched in 2025 on the earliest.” Like most future Kia autos as of late, it’s electrical. For now, the undertaking is known as GT1.
That identify may make all of it the best way to manufacturing — automakers love alphanumeric names as a result of they work in each language. However we’ll be a bit of upset if it doesn’t get named for the sharp a part of a wasp.
All-Wheel Drive, 603+ Horsepower
The GT1 prototype, the report says, makes use of two motors (one on the entrance axle and one on the rear) for an AWD grip and an influence output of 450 kW — about 603 horsepower. That might exceed the output of even the Kia EV6 GT, the model’s present efficiency champ.
Is it actual? It’s fairly potential. It rides on the identical platform because the EV6 and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 (Hyundai and Kia share some possession and plenty of automobile bones).
EV Engineering Might Make This Simple
One of many promising issues concerning the transition to electrical automobiles is that it makes introducing new fashions simpler. A lot of as we speak’s electrical autos (EVs) journey on widespread platforms. So-called “skateboard platforms” are almost flat mixtures of batteries, motors, suspension, and steering parts. As soon as producers construct one, scaling it up or down and tweaking its efficiency lets them create new fashions simply from widespread elements.
There’s no cause Kia couldn’t take its present skateboard, inject it with wasp venom and the desires of Motor Development writers from the ‘70s, and promote it to folks who need to get a ticket after dropping the children at daycare.
That was your entire concept of the Stinger. It may not have enticed sufficient consumers to final a decade, however the electrical age may make chasing wild concepts cheaper for automakers. Let’s hope the GT1 is actual sufficient, sometime, to make auto writers and adventurous mother and father grin once more.
