About half the time Kia Stinger GT makes the news, that’s because rumor Kia will kill off its critically-acclaimed but slow-selling sports sedan. The automaker’s traditional production cycle would indicate a second-generation sedan arrives around the 2024 model year, but final report on Korea Is that the factory Sohari assembled Stingers will switch to mixture and EV production in Q2 2022.
Autocar took the opportunity at LA Auto Show ask That Design Director Karim Habib on the chance of an all-new Stinger. Habib’s response was like a response to the challenge, “Tell us you’re not replacing Stinger without telling us you’re not replacing Stinger.” Habib said, “The spirit of Stinger is and will remain. I like to think that EV6 have GT genes. We’re trying to do a GT in there, and it has Stinger in it. The Stinger has been a transformative car, and has opened up a whole new perspective on what Kia can be, sport and a precise driving engine. The EV6 is currently doing the same. “
of Australia Drive received a similar response from Damien Meredith, head of Kia Australia, in May. Meredith said, “The Kia Stinger has been good to us on many fronts. It gives our brand a performance advantage that we didn’t have before,” then moves the EV6 forward as “the next step.” on sharpness in performance.”
Admittedly, Habib predicts such a future in a 2020 interview, during a round of Stinger’s foreshadowing of death. Habib said he hopes that the “spirit of Stinger” remains as the Kia brand evolves. “As technology moves towards electric vehicles and as the world and its appetite for these vehicles change, the concept probably has to evolve as well.”
Assuming we’re reading matches between the lines on the right, we shouldn’t be surprised there isn’t another Stinger. That car did every job it was designed to do except sell well, which is confusingly unforgivable. We’re surprised Kia considers the EV6 to be any kind of component – or gene-based – successor to the Stinger, but that’s where we stand. It is true that the EV6 will have a GT trim, one that is quite a bit more powerful than the Stinger ever offered. The dual-engine, all-wheel-drive EV6 GT makes 577 horsepower and 546 pound-feet of torque, hitting 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The Stinger GT with its twin-turbo V6 maxed out at 368 hp and 376 lb-ft, and needed another 1.2 seconds to complete the 60 mph test.
The EV6 GT will land in the US late next year, but it’s a long way off, as it’s impossible to know what the world will look like next week. If Stinger’s production ends in the second quarter of next year, that will likely provide enough inventory to last until its spirit emerges in its next form.
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