FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Kia says affordable sports car will be radical four-door
Rear-wheel drive sports car to be inspired by 2011 GT concept, not last year’s GT4 StingerKia’s European design boss, Gregory Guillame, has confirmed the Korean company’s eagerly anticipated affordable sports car will not be based on last year’s GT4 Stinger concept.
Instead, the all-new, rear-driver will be inspired by the radical four-door coupe GT Concept revealed at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show, if Kia chooses to go ahead and put it in production.
Guillame says the decision to shelve the well-received 2014 GT4 concept and focus on the GT is because of Kia’s aspiration to be ‘challenger brand’.
“The GT4 Stinger was the most expected way of doing a sports car, but the GT is the car that no-one expected,” says Guillame.
The news Kia had begun work on a sports car was leaked to the British media last month by Kia’s UK boss, Paul Philpott, who confirmed that the Korean car-maker was working on an “affordable sports car” that would not be based on any of its current line-up and would come with “striking” styling.
Philpott also confirmed the new car would be based on rear-wheel drive architecture and needed to be sold worldwide for it to be viable.
Unlike the original concept’s 300kW turbocharged 3.3-litre V6, the production car is expected to come with a 1.6 or perhaps 2.0-litre turbo petrol four with the firm’s most recent seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
Kia’s decision to potentially push a sporty four-door coupe into production is reminiscent of Mazda’s decision back in 2003 to replace the RX-7 coupe with the four-door RX-8.
As well as the all-new affordable sports car Guillame also confirmed Kia is working on small SUV to rival Nissan’s JUKE. The firm first teased a small SUV at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show, but despite being well received, the NIRO concept wasn’t green-lit for production.
“We were surprised the segment developed very quickly”, admits the Kia design chief.
Following the success of the JUKE, Guillame told motoring.com.au that he was “working on it” and that something a rival for the small Nissan would be “coming very soon”. Expect Kia’s JUKE to be here by 2017.
One car Kia won’t be rushing to produce is an SUV-coupe like BMW’s X4 and X6, according to Kia’s European design boss, who predicts the new segment will decline in volume as quickly as its risen.
Instead, Guillame wants Kia’s global line-up to feature a large SUV to sit above the Sorento although he admits such a car would have limited appeal outside the USA.
And the secret behind the success of recent Kia products?
Guillame says it’s because Kias like the Sportage are well-proportioned and “sporty, dynamic and sexy.”
Full coverage of motoring.com.au at Frankfurt motor show here
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