Stung! Kia Australia hopes for EV sports sedan

A Kia EV sports sedan could soon be reality.

Kia Australia has hinted an electrified performance sedan could be in its future to continue the uplift in brand image achieved by the “lighthouse” Stinger.

Very much an ICE-powered vehicle, the Stinger is pretty much the last rear-wheel drive affordable performance car left standing in Australia following the end of production of local heroes such as the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon in 2017 and 2016 respectively.

Now Kia is preparing to start the global roll-out of up to nine models based on the E-GMP battery electric vehicle architecture developed by the Hyundai Group that will be shared with the Hyundai brand and luxury spin-off Genesis.

And while the first Kia model will be an SUV codenamed CV, there appears every chance a sedan will be part of the line-up in the future.

And there also appears every chance it will be rear-wheel drive, just like the Stinger.

Kia certainly hinted of at least two traditional passenger cars in presenting its EV plans, showing the outline of a “dynamic machine:” and an “elegant sedan”.

“Watch this space, who’s to say, there may also be a pretty cool passenger car that we may want to bring to our market,” Kia Australia product chief Roland Rivero told EVcentral teasingly.

“Some models may not be a great fit for our market and others may be a perfect fit for our market. That’s still very much a work in progress, but I can tell you E-GMP will be coming to Australia in some form or another.

“We are working on that with KMC (Kia Motor Corporation) and we are putting up our hand where we see our hand should be put up.”

Intriguingly, like the Stinger and other Kia models sold here, E-GMP EVs would have ride, handling and steering tuned for Australia in co-operation with independent chassis guru Graeme Gambold.

“It’s no different to ICE, we are still trying to Australian-ise every product whether it is ICE or EV,” Rivero said.

At the recent announcement of Kia’s comprehensive EV plan, it was made clear that performance tuning would be part of the plan for at least some E-GMP models.

When E-GMP was launched last year head of development Albert Biermann extolled its rear-wheel drive performance credentials.

Biermann was formerly head of BMW’s high-performance M division which specialises in rear-drive performance. One of his first jobs when he made the shift to Korea was to finalise development of the Stinger.

Launched in Australia in 2017 the Stinger has always had a high profile without being a huge seller. It generates lots of interest and has also been pressed into service by the Queensland, Western Australian, Northern Territory and Federal police.

“Stinger is still very, very important to us,” said Kia Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith.

“It’s got a road presence now, people still look at that car and say ‘wow’. The lighthouse effect Stinger gives the brand still works very, very well.”

Clearly, the nine Kia EVs based on E-GMP – to be named EV1 through EV9 – have the potential to achieve the same thing .

Meredith’s main concern is that the federal government get rolling on its plan for the development of EVs in Australia so Kia can increase its lobbying power to access the new models.

It launches its first EV model here, the Niro, within months.

“We will certainly look at every single model that becomes available and we’ll put a strategy together to ensure it fits with our strategy to continue to grow our business in Australia,” Meredith said.

“Is it exciting? It is incredibly exciting. Is it going to be challenging? It’s probably going to be more challenging in Australia than any other country I can think of.

“You’ve got to look at what’s happening in Western Europe in regards to infrastructure and infrastructure support and in Australia we still really haven’t got a direction from the federal government about what’s going to happen with EVs at this point in time.

“I think a white paper was meant to come out late last year and I don’t think it’s come out at this point in time.

“I think we need some solid direction from the federal government, not state governments doing their bits and pieces to chargers and this and that.

“It really needs to fit into a national strategy and that will be great. We can hand in glove that with what’s coming.

But if it’s going to work in Australia we will take it.”